Top Five UFC Fights To Look Forward To In December

The UFC closes out the year with two exciting cards in December, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld as he highlights the five most-anticipated fights of the month.

Alexandre Pantoja v Kai Asakura

Sunday, 8 December SA time

Pantoja plans to continue his reign as flyweight champion and see off a special challenger in Asakura in the main event of UFC 310 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The Brazilian has defended his 125-pound title twice, beating both Brandon Royval and Steve Erceg by decision, and is on a six-fight win streak. A third successive title defence will see him tie Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez for the most wins in flyweight history with 13.

A terror out of Tokyo, Asakura aims to shake up the division by seizing the strap in his very first fight in the UFC. It’s only the third time in the modern era that a fighter has been granted a title shot in their promotional debut, which tells you everything you need to know about how highly the UFC thinks of the former two-time RIZIN bantamweight champion.

Shavkat Rakhmonov v Ian Machado Garry

Sunday, 8 December SA time

UFC 310’s co-headliner is a five-round No. 1 contender fight between undefeated welterweight stars.

Originally, Rakhmonov was scheduled to face Belal Muhammad for the title in the main event. However, the champion was ruled out of the fight due to a toe infection, prompting the promotion to rebook Rakhmonov and elevate the flyweight title fight to the headlining slot.

Machado Garry accepted the fight after he was originally scheduled to headline the UFC Tampa card against Joaquin Buckley one week later. He’d previously called for a clash with the predatory Rakhmonov and the highly skilled Irishman now gets his wish.

This is a can’t-miss matchup.

Ciryl Gane v Alexander Volkov

Sunday, 8 December SA time

The No. 2 and No. 3 ranked heavyweights in the world will trade leather in a titanic rematch on the same card. The pair were scheduled to square off in October, but Volkov was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Now back to 100%, the Russian seeks revenge after dropping a decision to Gane in their first fight, a five-round main event bout back in June 2021. The Frenchman went on to win the interim title and bounced back from a disappointing loss to Jon Jones for the undisputed belt with a TKO win over Serghei Spivac last September.

Volkov is on a roll, having notched up four wins in a row. He upset countryman Sergei Pavlovich by unanimous decision in June to extend his run, which includes finishes of Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexandr Romanov and Tai Tuivasa and can move one step closer to an elusive title shot with a win over Gane.

Colby Covington v Joaquin Buckley

Sunday, 15 December SA time

The final fight of the year will see former interim welterweight champion Covington come in on short notice to take on surging young buck Buckley in the main event of UFC Tampa at the Amelie Arena.

One of the biggest stars in the UFC, Covington is a trash-talking cardio machine with high-level wrestling and a world of experience at the highest level. “Chaos” returns after suffering a decision loss to Leon Edwards last December in a third failed bid to become undisputed champion and aims to steal Buckley’s thunder.

Buckley is unbeaten since moving to welterweight with a run of five wins that includes knockouts of Vicente Luque and Stephen Thompson. Super dynamic, he looks to put the icing on the cake of a breakout year with his fourth win of 2024.

Mackenzie Dern v Amanda Ribas

Sunday, 15 December SA time

Contrasting contenders come full circle as they collide at the same venue of their first fight five years ago in UFC Tampa’s co-main event.

Dern is looking for revenge after Ribas outpointed her to end her undefeated streak back in 2019. A multi-time jiu-jitsu world champion, Dern is a wizard on the ground and snapped a two-fight skid with a decision win over Loopy Godinez in August.

Ribas returns to strawweight after a failed bid to cash in on a high-profile main event bout against Rose Namajunas at flyweight. A sharp striker, her only fight at 115 pounds since 2022 saw her score a TKO win over Luana Pinheiro last November.