UFC 280 fight card: Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev, Aljamain Sterling vs. T.J. Dillashaw lead loaded lineup

By Alexander K. Lee@AlexanderKLee Oct 2, 2022, 7:00pm EDT

UFC 280: Press Conference — Sean O’Malley and Charles Oliveira

Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev top one of the deepest UFC cards of the year.

During Saturday’s UFC Vegas 61 broadcast, the promotion announced the official lineup for UFC 280, which takes place Oct. 22 in Abu Dhabi and airs live on ESPN+ pay-per-view. The card is headlined by Oliveira and Makhachev — No. 1 and No. 3 respectively in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings — battling for the lightweight title that “Do Bronx” lost on the scale this past May.

In the co-main event, Aljamain Sterling defends the bantamweight championship against two-time UFC champion T.J. Dillashaw.

Also set for the main card, former bantamweight champion Petr Yan faces top contender Sean O’Malley, Beneil Dariush meets Mateusz Gamrot in a battle of top 10 lightweights, and perennial flyweight contender Katlyn Chookagian looks to stop the championship charge of Manon Fiorot.

The preliminary portion of the Oct. 22 card has no shortage of star power as ranked fighters Belal Muhammad, Sean Brady, Volkan Oezdemir, and Muhammad Mokaev will all be in action, as well as fast-rising heavyweight threat Jailton Almeida.

See the announced UFC 280 lineup below.

Main Card (ESPN+ PPV, 2 p.m. ET)

Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev

Aljamain Sterling vs. T.J. Dillashaw

Petr Yan vs. Sean O’Malley

Beneil Dariush vs. Mateusz Gamrot

Katlyn Chookagian vs. Manon Fiorot

Preliminary Card (ESPN+ and ESPNews, 10 a.m. ET)

Belal Muhammad vs. Sean Brady

Makhmud Muradov vs. Caio Borralho

Volkan Oezdemir vs. Nikita Krylov

Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Lucas Almeida