Is there a UFC fight this weekend (December 30, 2023)? Everything about the next event

Despite the UFC just having its last event on December 16, fans have already been clamoring for the octagon's return amid the promotion's dreaded annual hiatus.

As it typically does, the UFC has taken a break from in-cage action during the holiday season. The next UFC Fight Night event will take place on January 13, 2024, headlined by Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker.

Though there is no UFC event this weekend, combat sports fans can get their violence fixture in with Fury Pro Grappling 8 on December 30 and RIZIN 45 on December 31. Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling headlines the Fury Pro Grappling card while MMA stars Juan Archuleta, Kai Asakura and Kyoji Horiguchi top the RIZIN event.

No other major MMA promotion has an event for the remainder of 2023.

Along with the Ankalaev and Walker main event rematch on January 13, many other notable fighters will be on the opening fight card. Manel Kape, Matheus Nicolau, Jim Miller, Ketlen Vieira, Ricky Simón and Andrei Arlovski are among the other fighters competing in the event.

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When is the first UFC pay-per-view of 2024?

UFC 297 will be the promotion's first pay-per-view event of 2024 on January 20.

After opening the year in the UFC APEX, the premier MMA organization will travel north to Canada for UFC 297 headlined by middleweight champion Sean Strickland and challenger Dricus du Plessis.

Strickland will be entering the fight coming off of a 2023 Fighter of the Year campaign after upsetting Israel Adesanya for the belt.

The event will be the UFC's first trip to Canada since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the co-main event, the vacant women's bantamweight belt will also be claimed. Fresh off of a submission of Holly Holm, Mayra Bueno Silva will enter her first title fight against former title challenger Raquel Pennington.

Though many other fights have been announced for the event, the exact structure of the card has not been made public.