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The countdown to UFC 306 has officially begun.

On Thursday, UFC released its official poster for the much-ballyhooed Sept. 14 event, which features UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley defending his belt against No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili in the main event, and UFC women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso facing off against Valentina Shevchenko in a trilogy bout in the co-headliner.

The action all goes down at the Sphere, a state-of-the-art $ 2.3 billion venue in Las Vegas that features a 160,000 square-foot 16K-resolution wraparound screen inside and generally seats between 18,000 to 20,000 people. Check out the UFC 306 poster below.

UFC CEO Dana White has touted UFC 306’s takeover of the Sphere as a one-off, largely due to the pay-per-view event already becoming the most expensive production in promotional history, with more than $ 17 million already spent. With the cheapest tickets priced in the thousands, TKO Group Holdings chief financial officer Andrew Schleimer said the much-anticipated fight card could end up producing the largest live gate in company history.

Earlier this week, White revealed the first details of UFC’s production plans for a Mexican Independence Day event he’s touted as “a love letter” to Mexican combat sports.

“So what we’ve done, really what we’re going to do on September 14 takes over a year to do. We’re doing it in four months,” White said Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show. “So, when the show starts, we’re going to have the prelims, and then we’re going to tell — throughout the rest of the night — the history of combat in Mexico, from the beginning of time and into the future. So the first fight of the night will start at the beginning of time, the main event will be the future of Mexico. That’s the first time I’ve ever talked about this.”

UFC 306 features a 10-fight card. The entire event lineup can be seen here.

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On the fourth episode of UFC 305 Embedded, Tai Tuivasa and Steve Erceg get their rugby on, the City Kickboxing crew — Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker, and Kai Kara-France — train with Australian footballers, UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis readies for his first title defense, Jairzinho Rozenstruik checks out the local sights, and more.

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PERTH — Tai Tuivasa previews his UFC 305 fight against Jairzinho Rozenstruik, reflects on sparring UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, and much more.

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Eric Nicksick will have a vested interest in Saturday’s middleweight title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.

The rivals headline UFC 305 in Perth, Western Australia. Nicksick, head coach of former middleweight champ Sean Strickland, expects his fighter to be next for the winner, and since he has game-planned for both guys in the past year, Nicksick sees it as a razor-close and compelling matchup.

“I kind of consider it a 50-50 coin flip, man. I really do,” Nicksick told MMA Fighting. “I’m very curious on seeing what type of Izzy comes back. I’m a lot of ways, selfishly, I’m pulling for him, because the division is much better with a talented, championship level Israel Adesanya in the division.

“And I really took a liking to Dricus over the last year or so. I wouldn’t say we’re close, but we’re friendly and we’re very respectful toward one another. And I’m pulling for him in a lot of ways, because I think he has been overlooked severely over the years.”

Strickland captured the title with a lopsided decision win over Adesanya at UFC 293 this past September, but the reign was short-lived as du Plessis won a split decision over Strickland in their title fight at UFC 297 in January.

Nicksick was familiar with du Plessis because his fighter Brad Tavares dropped a decision to the South African champ at UFC 276 in July 2022. Even with that knowledge, as well as du Plessis being as aggressive yet tactical as he is, Nicksick admits du Plessis was very tough to prepare for.

“He’s a problem, man, and he’s only getting better, and I think the way that he started to fight and understand kind of who and what he is as a fighter, he’s awkward in a way like Sean is but with more power,” Nicksick said. “He hits very hard. It was very difficult for us to find particular sparring partners for Dricus.

“You’re not going to find many people that can fight like him. Our best knowledge that we brought over was when Brad fought him and we had that ability to take that game plan and understand how to implement it, but Dricus only got better since the Brad fight. So it’s a very interesting matchup to me.

Of course, looking at things from an Xs and Os standpoint, Nicksick sees UFC 305 as an interesting puzzle to solve on both ends, and expects that to play out on Saturday.

“I’m curious on how they game plan it,” Nicksick said. “I think if I’m Dricus’ camp, I’ll take a hard look at what we did with Sean, and understanding the cage control and what we did there, and try to bottle Izzy up.

“I think Izzy needs to reverse engineer that game plan and go, ‘Hey, this is what these guys did to me and the blueprint’s out, and here’s how we have to try to keep my back off the cage and implement our game plan out in the open.’”

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The UFC returns to pay-per-view this Saturday in Perth, Western Australia, and brings a highly anticipated title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya to cap off UFC 305. What is at stake for both fighters overall, and why does it feel like the heated rivalry fight is flying under the radar?

On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses this weekend’s card, the main event between du Plessis and Adesanya, and where both guys go with a title win. Additionally, topics include other storylines at UFC 305, the fallout of a lackluster UFC Vegas 95 card, Dana White’s latest update on the return of Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler’s response, the PFL returning this week, big fights confirmed, and much more.

Host Mike Heck is joined by MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew to answer your questions about those topics, and the biggest stories in the MMA world.

Watch the show live at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT in the video above.

If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.

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MMA Fighting was in attendance for the UFC 305 open workouts ahead of Saturday’s pay-per-view card at RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia.

The main event will see middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis defend his title for the first time against former two-time champ Israel Adesanya.

Both du Plessis and Adesanya worked out for the fans in Perth. Other fighters included Dan Hooker, Kai Kara-France, and Steve Erceg.

Watch the UFC 305 open workouts in the video above.

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Chris Curtis is no longer fighting Kevin Holland at UFC 307 in October.

The veteran middleweight revealed late Wednesday night that he suffered an injury in training that will prevent him from competing until the latter part of 2024 or early 2025.

“I’m fine, guys. Bit of a fracture in my left foot,” Curtis wrote on Twitter. “Caught Caio Borralho on the knee, at the very end of the last round of sparring. The bigger problem is I have something called a Lisfranc injury as well, which means I’m not even supposed to be walking without crutches the next four to five weeks, which sucks but had it been any worse, it would have possibly been surgical.

“So count your blessings there. Hopefully, I’ll be OK for December. If not, I’ll see you all next year. Thanks for all the comments and concerns.”

It’s been an up and down year for Curtis after he started off 2024 with a win over Marc-Andre Barriault but then dropped a razor-close decision in a short-notice rematch against Brendan Allen in April. Curtis suffered an injury to his hamstring that kept him sidelined for several months until he booked the matchup against Holland in October.

Unfortunately, now he’s suffered another setback with the fractured foot.

As far as the Lisfranc injury, that happens “if bones in the midfoot are broken or ligaments that support the midfoot are torn,” per OrthInfo. The severity of the injury can vary depending on how much damage is done in the foot.

Judging by Curtis’ comments, he’s hopeful that the injuries won’t keep him out of action too long, but he definitely won’t be able to fight by October.

Sources told MMA Fighting that no replacement opponent has been secured for Holland at this time. It’s expected that a search will be underway, with hopes to keep Holland on the card that takes place at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5.

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Flyweights Rose Namajunas and Erin Blanchfield headline UFC’s return to Canada on Nov. 2 at the Rogers Place in Edmonton.

UFC CEO Dana White announced the event to Canada’s Sportsnet on Thursday.

Namajunas and Blanchfield clash in the five-round headliner as both fighters look to take a step toward title contention with a win.

While both fell to Manon Fiorot in recent fights, Blanchfield was widely considered one of the top contenders in the division prior to that loss, while Namajunas has scored back-to-back wins since falling to the French flyweight in her 125-pound debut.

Several more fights were also announced for the Edmonton card, including a heavyweight co-main event featuring all-time UFC knockout leader Derrick Lewis returning to action against Alexandr Romanov. Lewis most recently dispatched Rodrigo Nascimento by third-round knockout in May, while Romanov looks to get back in the win column following a submission loss to Jailton Almeida in June.

Ariane Da Silva also returns to face Canadian favorite Jasmine Jasudavicius in another flyweight matchup, while Marc-Andre Barriault takes on Dustin Stoltzfus at middleweight.

Another Canadian, Jamey-Lyn Horth, faces Ivana Petrovic, while recent The Ultimate Fighter finalist Cody Gibson returns against Chad Anheliger.

More UFC Edmonton fights are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

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Israel Adesanya understands UFC has a business to run, but trying to erase Francis Ngannou and his contributions to the sport just doesn’t make sense to him.

In the days leading up to UFC 305, a promotional video was released showing comments that Adesanya made about the trio of African champions that once reigned atop the sport. At the time, Adesanya was joined by Ngannou as heavyweight champion and Kamaru Usman as welterweight champion, and the “three kings” touted plans to expand the sport even further into Africa in the future.

But the edited promo pushed out by UFC suspiciously removed Ngannou’s name despite being mentioned by Adesanya at that pre-fight press conference. None of it sat well with the former middleweight champion, but he hopes UFC eventually comes to its senses.

“You can’t erase Francis’ legacy in the UFC,” Adesanya said at UFC 305 media day. “It’s part of what we’ve done. It’s forever in history, in stone. So trying to whitewash it or just not talk about it is silly.

“I know he’s fighting for the PFL right now, but it’s still history. You can’t just turn a blind eye to it. I’m sure they’ll fix it eventually. This is how business goes with the UFC.”

The split between UFC and Ngannou seemed to be a long time coming after “The Predator” spoke out about several issues regarding his contract he wanted to address before potentially inking a new deal to stay with the organization.

Ngannou’s issue wasn’t only about pay, but rather the freedom to pursue outside interests such as a longtime dream to compete in boxing, which only happened for him after he left UFC in free agency.

He eventually signed with PFL, but he was allowed to engage in a pair of boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua before eventually booking his promotional debut against Renan Ferreira on Oct. 19.

Of course, Adesanya understands that UFC has to view Ngannou and PFL as opposition, but that doesn’t negate the history they share together.

“He’s an [integral] part of what we’ve done in the UFC,” Adesanya said. “Right now, I know there’s competition between other promotions and the UFC and battles, but you can never erase history. The streets, the internet will always remember.

“I think they’ll fix this eventually, but it’s just a lot of chest puffing. The UFC are smart people. They’ll understand and they’ll rectify this eventually.”

As far as his own personal relationship with the former UFC heavyweight champion, Adesanya still talks to Ngannou regularly and is excited to see his friend return to action in October.

The fight also serves as Ngannou’s first appearance since the tragic death of his 15-month-old son back in April.

Adesanya can’t even fathom that kind of pain, but he wishes nothing but the best for Ngannou as he restarts his MMA career in the PFL cage.

“I’m happy for him,” Adesanya said. “I’m happy for what he’s doing. He just went through something that I would never wish on anyone. We’ve talked. I’ve checked up on him. Again, I respect Francis so much.”

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UFC 305 media day will feature UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis, former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, and a host of others fighting at Saturday’s event in Perth, Australia.

UFC 305 media day is at 10 p.m. ET, and the tentative schedule is below:

10 p.m. ET: Jairzinho Rozenstruik

10:15 p.m.: Israel Adesanya

10:30 p.m.: Casey O’Neill

10:45 p.m.: Jack Jenkins

11 p.m.: Tom Nolan

11:15 p.m.: Stewart Nicoll

11:30 p.m.: Steve Erceg

11:45 p.m.: Dan Hooker

12 a.m.: Joshua Culibao

12:15 a.m.: Mateusz Gamrot

12:30 a.m.: Kai Kara-France

12:45 a.m.: Dricus du Plessis

1 a.m.: Tai Tuivasa

1:15 a.m.: Junior Tafa

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