When is the next UFC event? Date, venue, fight card and more revealed here

The UFC are back on pay-per-view next Saturday (March 4) when they host UFC 285 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The event will mark the return of Jon Jones after a three-year layoff to fight Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight championship. It will be his first bout since 2020, which saw him earn a unanimous decision win over Dominick Reyes to retain his light heavyweight championship.

For years, fans have wondered how Jones would perform at heavyweight and will now get their answer. Gane will welcome 'Bones' to the weight division and will look to win the title in his second attempt.

In the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko will defend her women's flyweight championship against Alexa Grasso. Shevchenko has been dominant and has made a strong case for being in the women's MMA GOAT conversation.

'Bullet' is coming off a controversial split-decision win against Taila Santos and will look to leave no debate as she defends her title for the eighth time. Grasso has been impressive since making her flyweight debut in 2020. She is riding a four-fight win streak and proved that she is capable of going five rounds as she most recently earned a unanimous decision win against Viviane Araujo.

Also on the stacked card, Geoff Neal will look to derail the hype of highly touted welterweight Shavkat Rakhmonov, Mateusz Gamrot takes on Jalin Turner in lightweight action, and middleweight prospect Bo Nickal will make his UFC pay-per-view debut against Jamie Pickett.

---

Dana White confirms that there will be a backup fighter for UFC 285 main event

UFC 285 is a highly anticipated event as Jon Jones returns to the octagon and attempts to become a two-division champion when he fights Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight championship.

Despite the excitement surrounding the main event, it's best to have a backup plan in case an injury or illness forces one of the competitors off the card. During his post-event media availability last night, UFC president Dana White confirmed that there will be an alternate for the vacant heavyweight championship bout but didn't reveal who it would be:

"Is there a backup fighter for the main event? Yes, we always have backups for those kind of fights... I'm not gonna - I'm not gonna say it [who the fighter is], but yeah, we got a backup." [6:48 - 6:58]

Obviously, fans will hope that nothing happens to jeopardize the fight. However, it will be interesting to see who weighs in as the backup and whether they will be rewarded with title implications for their next bout, considering that they are willing to step in if they're needed on short notice.

Catch White's post-event presser below: