With this year rapidly coming to a close, it looks like the opening UFC card for 2027 finally has its first fight.

Following back-to-back UFC Fight Night cards at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, the UFC returns to Madison Square Garden in New York City this weekend for a UFC 334 event that features two title bouts.

After UFC 334 concludes, next Saturday will see the UFC head back to Doha, Qatar for a UFC Fight Night event headlined by Jiří Procházka and Navajo Stirling to close out the month of November.

UFC Books Chidi Njokuani vs. Ignacio Bahamonds for UFC Dallas Card

The UFC returns on December 5 for what looks to be a fairly high-profile show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the promotion’s 2026 calendar is set to conclude the following weekend on December 12 with UFC 335.

It will be just over a month before the UFC opens its 2027 schedule on December 12 with a return to Dallas, TX, and Marcel Dorff reports that the first fight confirmed for that card will see Dallas’ own Chidi Njokuani take on Ignacio Bahamondes in a welterweight contest.

Chidi Njokuani Opened UFC Career With Three-Straight Bonuses

A veteran of nearly 40 professional MMA fights, Njokuani had already put together a lengthy run in Bellator and compiled a 19-7 record before accepting the call to fight on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021.

After stopping Mario Sousa in the third round to secure a UFC contract, “Chidi Bang Bang” secured back-to-back “Performance of the Night” bonuses for his first-round knockouts of Marc-André Barriault and Duško Todorović.

Njokuani closed out 2022 with a loss to Gregory Rodrigues that still saw him collect a “Fight of the Night” bonus, but that result did kick off a three-fight skid before the 37-year-old rebounded with a run of three-straight victories.

After coming up short against Jake Matthews and Carlos Leal, Njokuani returned to the win column in August at UFC 330 when he took a unanimous decision over Joel Alvarez.

Ignacio Bahamondes Moved Up to Welterweight at Noche UFC

Njokuani’s next matchup could absolutely produce another post-fight bonus for one or both of the combatants, as Bahamondes has also collected a “Fight of the Night” and several “Performance of the Night” bonuses since joining the UFC.

The Chilean also booked his ticket to the UFC with a knockout on DWCS in 2020, and after initially going 3-2 to start his UFC run Bahamondes managed to stop three-straight opponents in the first round and secure bonuses for all of those victories.

Following losses to Rafael Fiziev and Tofiq Musayev, “La Jaula” moved up to the welterweight division in September and took a unanimous decision over Muslim Salikhov.