MMA Calendar | January 2023

After a couple of weeks that saw a lack of action from the MMA world, things are starting to kick back into gear. With a whole new year ahead, events are starting to pile up in the calendar and it can be difficult to keep up to date with what is happening where and when. With that being said, here’s your MMA calendar for the remainder of this month:

*Note*: The dates shown for each event are the dates that they kick off in the location of the event. For example, if a US event says it takes place on a Saturday night, it will actually be Sunday morning for UK audiences.

Friday, January 13th

LFA 150: Farias vs Sweeney 

Headlined by a bantamweight clash between seven-time BJJ world champion Ary ‘AstroBoy’ Farias and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson protege John ‘Hollywood’ Sweeney, LFA events are always worth your time. This event is scheduled to kick off at 2AM in the UK, live on UFC Fight Pass. 

ONE Fight Night 6 on Prime Video

With three world championship match-ups, ONE is kicking off of their year in style. Headlined by the long-awaited featherweight kickboxing world championship clash between Superbon and Chingiz Allazov, there’s plenty to get excited about here. The vacant flyweight kickboxing world championship is on the line when Superlek faces late notice replacement Daniel Puerats, Mikey Musumeci is defending his flyweight submission grappling championship and that’s just the top three fights.

Elsewhere on the card, Garry Tonon and Rodtang Jitmuangnon are back in action and Stamp Fairtex will compete against Anissa Meksen in the promotion’s second-ever mixed-rules super fight. UK Audiences can expect to find the entire event on ONE’s YouTube channel with a livestream scheduled to start at 1AM. 

Saturday, January 14th

UFC Fight Night: Strickland vs Imavov

The first UFC card of 2023 has gone through some heavy changes. Losing it’s most interesting match-up in Geoff Neal vs Shavkat Rakhmonov, Kelvin Gastelum also pulled out of the main event and was replaced by Sean Strickland who will headline back-to-back fight night events. There’s some decent match-ups here, Dan Ige vs Damon Jackson and Umar Nurmagomedov vs Raoni Barcelos jump out, but nothing that screams unmissable.

Wednesday, January 18th

Invicta FC 51

With a championship double header, Invicta is also back with a bang in 2023. In the main event, Taneisha “Triple Threat” Tennant looks to continue her undefeated run under the Invicta banner when she defends her bantamweight title against UFC veteran Talita Bernardo. In the co-main event, the vacant flyweight title is on the line as Kristina “Warhorse” Williams faces Brazilian knockout artist Ketlen Souza. The entire event will be live on the promotion’s YouTube channel.

Friday, January 20th

Ares FC 11

Ares has been one of the fastest growing promotions in recent times and that means the quality of their events has gone up as well. 15-1 Abdoul Abdouraguimov faces 16-4-2 Rafal Haratyk in the main event for the vacant middleweight championship. Live on UFC Fight Pass from 7PM UK time. 

Saturday, January 21st

KSW 78

The winner of VMTV’s European promotion of the year kick their 2023 off with a card headlined by a rematch nearly 10 years in the making. Former champion Michal Materia will face former TUF winner Kendall Grove in a fight that can’t be missed after their first meeting became one of the bloodiest fights in KSW history. 

UFC 283

The UFC’s trip to Brazil isn’t a card that jumps off the page but there are some strong match-ups here. Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno 4 for the flyweight title is guaranteed to be a banger. Teixeira vs Smith is a strange light heavyweight title fight that will at least give us some closure. Elsewhere, Paul Craig vs Johnny Walker is sure to produce some kind of crazy finish. Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua is supposedly retiring, there’s another outing for rising star Jailton Almeida and Gregory Rodrigues is back against Brad Tavares.

Friday, January 27th

PFL Challenger Series 9

The PFL’s first-event of 2023 sees their Challenger series kick-off in the welterweight division. The highlights to look out for include the main event match-up featuring Lucas Barbosa, a former IBJJF world champion training under Andre Galvao. Rising star Thad Jean takes on former Cage Fury champion Eric Allequin. Former Jungle Fights champion Quemel Ottoni who is the only man to defeat UFC middleweight champ Alex Pereira in MMA also features.

Saturday, January 28th

LFA 151

Live from the the Ginásio do Polvilho in Cajamar, São Paulo, Brazil, LFA 151 is the pick of the night for the final weekend of January. The main event features a featherweight title fight between top prospects José “Ze” Delano and Gabriel “Mosquitinho” Santos. In the co-main event, will the women’s strawweight title fight is up for grabs between Julia “The Dragon” Polastri and “Arenita” Brenda Gottig. As always, it’s live on UFC Fight Pass.