After much anticipation around the 2026 UFC schedule, company CEO Dana White dropped some major news Thursday with the announcements about the first headliners for Paramount\/CBS era, as well as other key attractions.<\/p>\n
The top bit of news is that with lightweight champ Ilia Topuria taking a hiatus for personal reasons, an interim belt will be introduced<\/a> at 155 pounds. Justin Gaethje (26-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) and Paddy Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) will fight for it in the UFC 324<\/a> main event on Jan. 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Also on that card, women’s bantamweight champ Kayla Harrison (19-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) will welcome Amanda Nunes (23-5 MMA, 16-2 UFC) back from retirement in one of the biggest fights in women’s MMA history.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n A plethora of other notable matchups were revealed<\/a>, but in other championship conversation, just one week after UFC 324, another major event in UFC 325<\/a> will go down Jan. 31 in Sydney, with Australian featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (27-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) rematching Diego Lopes (27-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in the main event.<\/p>\n The MMA community was abuzz in the aftermath of White’s breaking news drop, and they offered reactions on social media.<\/p>\n