The UFC 254 main card has been revealed and it will look slightly different than what fans are accustomed to seeing. Headlined by the highly anticipated matchup for the undisputed lightweight title between Khabib Nurmagomedov and interim champ Justin Gaethje, the PPV card will feature six matchups, opposed to the usual five. UFC 254 will take place Oct. 24 to cap off a five-week trip to Abu Dhabi for the promotion. Nurmagomedov returns to action for the first time in over a year after submitting Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 242. “The Eagle” will look to make it 29 straight victories to begin his pro career, and three straight successful title defenses since capturing the title at UFC 223. After opening round finishes of James Vick, Edson Barboza and Donald Cerrone, Gaethje captured the interim 155-pound title with a fifth-round finish of Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. In the UFC 254 co-main event, former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will take on surging 185-pound contender Jared Cannonier. Heavyweights will throw down in the featured bout as Alexander Volkov takes on Walt Harris in a top-10 matchup, while former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos returns to 155 to take on Islam Makhachev. Check out the full UFC 254 main card below: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje — lightweight title fight Robert Whittaker vs. Jared Cannonier Alexander Volkov vs. Walt Harris Islam Makhachev vs. Rafael dos Anjos Cynthia Calvillo vs. Lauren Murphy Magomed Ankalaev vs. Ion Cutelaba

Zuffa LLC ABU DHABI – Hakeem Dawodu explains to reporters his verbal outbursts during his UFC 253 meeting with Zubaira Tukhugov.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC Israel Adesanya was dazzling in his title defense and Jan Blachowicz cemented himself as the new light heavyweight champion as the UFC 253 main and co-main events both ended in dramatic fashion. While Adesanya and Blachowicz will undoubtedly enjoy their victories with a well-deserved post-fight celebration, it didn’t take long for the subject of their next fight to be raised on Saturday night. In fact, it was Adesanya himself who made the call about the top contender in the middleweight division. He immediately turned his attention to Jared Cannonier, who’s been on his radar for the past year. Cannonier is currently preparing for a showdown with former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 254 in October. If he’s victorious, Cannonier should expect his next fight to come against Adesanya with the middleweight title up for grabs. “That’s the fight if Cannonier wins,” UFC president Dana White confirmed at the UFC 253 post fight press conference. “And I love that about Israel. He’s ready for who’s next, who else thinks they can beat me. The kid is an absolute stud.” Adesanya will undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on Cannonier’s fight in just a few weeks to see if his next opponent is secured or not. Things aren’t quite as clear cut at light heavyweight, but there are only a few options that make sense for Blachowicz after he dispatched Dominick Reyes in impressive fashion to claim the vacant title. The Polish veteran made it clear just after the belt was wrapped around his waist that he would like to cement his championship status by facing Jon Jones, who vacated the belt just recently with the intention of moving up to the heavyweight division. Jones even went as far as hinting on Twitter that perhaps he could return to 205 pounds now that a challenger like Blachowicz exists for him but obviously nothing is set in stone at this point. The other fight that could determine the next contender for the light heavyweight title will take place on Nov. 7 when Thiago Santos goes to battle with Glover Teixeira. White confirmed the winner of that fight would earn the next crack at the new 205-pound champion unless Jones really did decide he wanted to return to his old stomping grounds. “Those are the guys that are fighting for the next shot,” White said about Santos vs. Teixeira. “But obviously if Jon Jones wanted that fight, we wouldn’t deny Jon Jones the opportunity.”

Nate Diaz | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting Nate Diaz could make his official plans known soon. The UFC star shared a video to social media on Saturday, which contains clips of his past career highlights and other memorable moments from recent years: View this post on Instagram @nickdiazarmy #NDA #Nickdiazarmy Edited by: @elijahgutierrez @nickmcd209 A post shared by Nate Diaz (@natediaz209) on Sep 26, 2020 at 3:19pm PDT Captioned “Round 4” and accompanied by the song Outro by M83, the clip features footage from Diaz’s fights with Anthony Pettis and Jorge Masvidal, but otherwise offers no other commentary on the purpose of its release. The short video concludes with the year “2021” on screen, suggesting that Diaz has big plans in the near future. Diaz most recently fought last November at UFC 244, losing by third-round TKO (doctor stoppage due to a cut) to Masvidal in a battle for the “BMF” title. UFC President Dana White said that they are working on a rematch between Diaz and Masvidal for January.

Renato Moicano | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting Two of the lightweight division’s most intriguing fighters will fight this November. Former top-10 featherweight Renato Moicano will face Rafael Fiziev in a 155-pound bout at a UFC Fight Night on Nov. 28 at a location still to be announced. This will be Moicano’s second lightweight fight in the UFC. MMA Fighting confirmed the matchup with sources with knowledge of the booking following an initial report by Combate. Moicano (14-3-1) made a successful UFC lightweight debut in March, submitting Damir Hadzovic in just 44 seconds. Prior to that, the 31-year-old was making waves at 145 pounds with wins over Cub Swanson, Calvin Kattar, and Jeremy Stephens. However, he lost his previous two fights against “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung and Jose Aldo before making the decision to change divisions. Fiziev (8-1), 27, has dazzled fans with his striking prowess in his past two outings. He is coming off of back-to-back unanimous decisions over Marc Diakiese and Alex White. A heavyweight bout between Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis is expected to serve as the Nov. 28 headliner.