Top Five UFC Fights To Look Forward To In May

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Saturday, 2 May SA time

Jack Della Maddalena v Carlos Prates

Della Maddalena returns to the Octagon for the first time since losing the welterweight title to pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev at UFC 322 in this main-event battle at the RAC Arena in Perth.

Prior to that setback, the Australian ace was on an 18-fight win streak culminating in him beating Belal Muhammad for the belt.

One of the best boxers in the UFC, he has a game and ultra-dangerous dance partner in fellow elite striker Prates.

The unpredictable Brazilian is a violent knockout artist and is coming off a spectacular KO win over another former champion in Leon Edwards.

Khamzat Chimaev v Sean Strickland

Sunday, 10 May SA time

Two men who are violent by design and volatile by nature with bad blood will battle it out for the middleweight championship of the world in the main event of UFC 328 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Former training partners turned bitter rivals, these two are so unhinged that the UFC plans to beef up security and even deploy police to keep them apart during fight week.

A grappling beast, the unbeaten Chimaev makes the first defence of the title that he won in August by shutting down South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis, the man who dethroned Strickland.

A pressure-pushing striker, Strickland earned another opportunity to become a two-time 185-pound champion by stopping Anthony Hernandez, who entered their February bout on an eight-fight win streak.

Joshua Van v Tatsuro Taira

Sunday, 10 May SA time

History will be made in UFC 328’s co-headliner. It’s a second yet unique title bout as flyweight champion Van faces challenger Taira in the first UFC championship matchup between two fighters born in the 2000s. They were originally scheduled to square off last month, but the new-school clash was postponed after Van picked up an injury.

Van, who made my list of the top five male UFC fighters of 2025, makes the first defence of his title that he won in fortuitous fashion in December. In this case, though, he made his own luck as he ended the reign of Alexandre Pantoja (click the link below to read more) to become the second-youngest champion in UFC history.

Touted as a potential future champion since he entered the UFC in 2022, Taira gets his first crack at the gold after a statement stoppage win over ex-titleholder Brandon Moreno at the end of last year. A submission specialist, he seeks to finally bring a UFC belt to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Top Five UFC Male Fighters of 2025

Arnold Allen v Melquizael Costa

Sunday, 17 May SA time

A staple in the featherweight elite meets a blue-chipper on a red-hot rise in the main event of UFC Vegas 117 at the Meta APEX.

Having lost three of his last four fights, against the legendary Max Holloway, the unbeaten Movsar Evloev, and, most recently, Jean Silva at UFC 324 earlier this year, Allen finds himself in a pickle.

The Brit has slipped to No. 8 and has to protect his ranking against the surging Costa, who’s rattled off six straight wins, four of them by finish.

Fresh off becoming the first man to stop Dan Ige, the Brazilian looks to maximise his maiden main event and break into the top 10.

Song Yadong v Deiveson Figueiredo

Saturday, 30 May SA time

Two of the best bantamweights in the world will look to get back on track in their marquee matchup at UFC Macau at Galaxy Arena.

Local favourite Song is 3-2 in his past five fights and 1-1 against former champions heading into his third showdown against an ex-titleholder. He defeated former two-division ruler Henry Cejudo but lost a close decision to Sean O’Malley in January.

Former flyweight champion Figueiredo made waves when he made the move to bantamweight, winning his first three fights in the division.

However, he’s fizzled out since then, losing three of his past four. To make matters worse, he missed weight and was dominated by Umar Nurmagomedov in his last fight, so he needs a big performance.