The UFC is ending the year with a banger. UFC 296 – the final PPV event of the year – will have two highly anticipated title bouts and a stacked fight card. The main and co-main events have been fights that fans have been looking forward to for a long time. In this article, we are going to explain how you can watch UFC 296.
When and where is UFC 296?
The UFC is known for having some of its best events in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fans hope that will once again be the case as UFC 296 will be at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, Dec. 16. The main card starts at 10 p.m. ET, although the preliminaries start at 8 p.m. ET. The early prelims are at 6 p.m. ET.
How to watch UFC 296
UFC 296 is a pay-per-view event. The main card can be bought through PPV with ESPN+. You can watch the prelims on ESPN2 or ESPN+, and the early prelims will be on UFC Fight Pass.
Date: Saturday, Dec. 16 | Time: 10 p.m. ET (main card)
Location: T-Mobile Arena — Las Vegas, Nevada
How to watch: ESPN+ PPV
Odds: Leon Edwards -160, Alexandre Pantoja -175
UFC 296 fight card
Main card:
Welterweight: Leon Edwards (C) vs. Colby Covington, title bout (main event)
Flyweight: Alexandre Pantoja (C) vs. Brandon Royval, title bout (co-main event)
Welterweight: Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Stephen Thompson
Lightweight: Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett
Welterweight: Vicente Luque vs. Ian Machado Garry
Prelims:
Featherweight: Josh Emmett vs. Bryce Mitchell
Women's bantamweight: Irene Aldana vs. Karol Rosa
Bantamweight: Cody Garbrandt vs. Brian Kelleher
Women's flyweight: Casey O'Neill vs. Ariane Lipski
Early prelims:
Light heavyweight: Alonzo Menifield vs. Dustin Jacoby
Flyweight: Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Cody Durden
Featherweight: Andre Fili vs. Lucas Almeida
Heavyweight: Martin Buday vs. Shamil Gaziev
Welterweight: Randy Brown vs. Muslim Salikhov
Main event
Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington is one of the most anticipated fights of the year. Covington is arguably the biggest villain in the UFC, and fans have missed him being front and center as he hasn't fought since March of 2022. He always gets lots of intrigue for his fights as he is unpredictable and great on the microphone, and fans usually want to see him lose.
Covington puts his money where his mouth is and is a worthy adversary to Edwards. He has already begun his trash talk, and it is very possible he can back it up and become champion during this fight.
Covington was an elite collegiate wrestler, but he is also willing to get aggressive with his punches. There are some things going against Covington, though. Not only is he a 36-year-old who hasn't fought in 22 months, but he hasn't beaten a ranked opponent since 2018, when he became the Interim Champion in his division. Many even think Covington wasn't deserving of a title shot against Edwards.
Additionally, Edwards is one of the hottest fighters in the UFC right now. He hasn't lost since 2015, and his two most recent victories came when he beat Kamaru Usman – one of the greatest UFC fighters ever – for the welterweight title and again when he defended his title against Usman.
Edwards is incredible with his legs, as was illustrated by his knockout kick against Usman at UFC 278. Edwards is quickly paving the path toward legend status, and he will want to prove that Covington is washed up and not a deserving contender.
Co-main event
UFC 296 will be the rare event that features two title bouts. Alexandre Pantoja will look to defend his flyweight title against Brandon Royval in the co-main event.
This will be Pantoja's first title defense. He beat Brandon Moreno for the title at UFC 290. Pantoja has experience against Royval. He submitted Royval with a rear naked choke at UFC Fight Night on Aug. 21, 2021.
The flyweight belt has changed hands six times since mid-2020. The days of consistency in the division – when Demetrious Johnson and Henry Cejudo were champions – are over. Pantoja is favored in this fight, but Royval has been red hot. He finished his last two opponents in the first round.
Other UFC 296 storylines
The rest of the main card is stacked with big fights as well. The most notable is Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett. Ferguson is a UFC legend and former Interim Lightweight champion. During his prime, he won 12 straight fights. However, Ferguson is aging and has since lost his last six bouts. There can easily still be a little something left in the tank for El Cucuy, though. Ferguson, who is already known for his toughness, has been training with David Goggins. Goggins is a motivator and hard-core training aficionado, but he also doesn't have much of an MMA background. Fans will struggle to decide on who to root for, as Ferguson will be taking on another fan favorite in Pimblett. The English fighter is known for a funny personality and a willingness to let his body go after fights. Come fight time, though, he is always prepared. Pimblett is 20-3 in MMA and undefeated in his young UFC career.
Shavkat Rakhmonov will take on Stephen Thompson in another thrilling fight on the main card. The two are ranked fifth and sixth in the welterweight division, respectively, and a victory for either will put them on the trajectory of contending for the welterweight title that will be fought for on the same night. Rakhmonov, in particular, is viewed by many as someone who has a good chance of becoming a future champion sooner rather than later.
Vicente Luque and Ian Machado Garry will be the other fighters on the main card. Garry has been in the news a lot recently. Garry is undefeated in the UFC, but his personal relationships have been more frequently discussed and often criticized prior to this fight than his actually fighting has been.
There are even some great prelims for UFC 296. One standout fighter in the prelims is Bryce Mitchell. Mitchell is known for bringing a bible into the octagon. He will take on Josh Emmett, a fighter who was on a hot streak and afforded a title match this year. Unfortunately, he lost that match and the following. Emmitt is still the sixth-ranked featherweight, but he needs to get a win against Mitchell to keep his title dreams alive.
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