For the first time in its history, the UFC tipped most of its hand for a full calendar year.
On Monday at a news conference in Las Vegas, the UFC, the world’s largest MMA organization, released its entire schedule for 2015, giving dates for each of 45 total events.
It also gave some clues for locations for those fight cards, though the vast majority do not yet have cities and venues announced for them.
In 2015, the UFC will hold 45 events. Thirteen of those will be pay-per-view cards, while 32 will be considered “Fight Night” events. As usual, four events will take place on the promotion’s main broadcast partner, FOX, while another 18 will have main cards on FOX Sports 1. An additional 10 events will stream live at UFC Fight Pass in the United States.
Roughly half of the 45 events in 2015 are expected to take place in the States, while the promotion is planning an additional seven in Brazil, at least three in Canada, two in Mexico and returns to Sweden, Germany and Ireland. Additionally, the promotion continues to target Poland, Holland and Russia for first visits.
The UFC has five events scheduled the rest of this year, which will bring its total to 46 fight cards.
UFC President Dana White, at a large-scale news conference in Las Vegas, said the promotion is looking at the schedule release in a different light than it has in the past. Previously, the UFC had some dates it targeted for pay-per-view events, just based on history, but most announcements weren’t made without a date, venue and city to go with them.
White also said a 2014 that was one of its roughest yet in terms of injuries contributed to its schedule in the first part of 2015 being front-loaded with big fights, leaving question marks down the rest of the calendar.
“2012 was brutal with the injuries we had, and this year was so different because it was all main and co-main events (that had injuries),” White said. “We’re coming off this year with all these injuries, and the way television networks and fans look at things is in seasons. I’ll take this block of fights here, all these great fights, and these fights (scheduled for 2014) will happen in 2015.”
The first seven events of the UFC’s 2015 schedule do have locations attached to them, including three pay-per-views in the first two months that feature four title fights. But if White’s contention is that the UFC is taking its schedule in a season-like way, the regularity of events without much in the way of breaks may be unique among professional sports.
Like 2014, the upcoming schedule, if it holds to the announced form, offers few breaks in action. Only 13 weekends on the announced schedule are open, and there are three stretches with two weeks between events, one stretch with a three-week layoff. If there’s an off-season, it appears to be a five-week stretch between UFC 192 on Oct. 3 and UFC Fight Night 84 on Nov. 7.
2015 UFC Schedule
- Jan. 3: UFC 182, MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
- Jan. 18: UFC Fight Night 59, TD Garden, Boston
- Jan. 24: UFC on FOX 14, Tele2 Arena, Stockholm
- Jan. 31: UFC 183, MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
- Feb. 14: UFC Fight Night 60, 1stBank Center, Broomfield, Colo.
- Feb. 22: UFC Fight Night 61, TBA, Brazil
- Feb. 28: UFC 184, Staples Center, Los Angeles
- March 7: UFC Fight Night 62
- March 14: UFC 185
- March 21: UFC Fight Night 63
- April 4: UFC Fight Night 64
- April 11: UFC Fight Night 65
- April 18: UFC Fight Night 66
- April 25: UFC 186
- May 15: UFC Fight Night 67
- May 16: UFC Fight Night 68
- May 23: UFC 187
- May 30: UFC Fight Night 69
- June 6: UFC Fight Night 70
- June 13: UFC 188
- June 20: UFC Fight Night 71
- June 27: UFC Fight Night 72
- July 11: UFC 189
- July 12: UFC Fight Night 73
- July 15: UFC Fight Night 74
- July 18: UFC Fight Night 75
- TBA: UFC Fight Night 76
- July 25: UFC Fight Night 77
- Aug. 1: UFC 190
- Aug. 8: UFC Fight Night 78
- Aug. 23: UFC Fight Night 79
- Aug. 29: UFC Fight Night 80
- Sept. 5: UFC 191
- Sept. 19: UFC Fight Night 81
- Sept. 26: UFC Fight Night 82
- TBA: UFC Fight Night 83
- Oct. 3: UFC 192
- Nov. 7: UFC Fight Night 84
- Nov. 14: UFC 193
- Nov. 21: UFC Fight Night 85
- Nov. 28: UFC Fight Night 86
- TBA: UFC Fight Night 87
- Dec. 5: UFC 194
- Dec. 12: UFC Fight Night 88
- Dec. 19: UFC Fight Night 89
For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
