MMA

Who the h*ck is headlining UFC 332 in SLC?

Graham Bany August 16, 2026 · 8 min read

I love the UFC. I love when the UFC comes to my home. What I do not like is when an entire event card is announced with one of my favorite fighters for the event after the one in my city. So, who is gonna fight on this card?

Well, we need to think about the schedule and who has and has not fought.

The above graphic does not include any non-title fights (UFC 329 was headlined by McGregor).

The average turn around for a champion without an injury is (in my opinion without looking at all the stats) about six months. Most champions will fight once to twice a year depending. Looking at the past schedule and what is upcoming, it really is just about putting the puzzle pieces togethers.

Since the Paramount deal, numbered events (PLE or formerly PPV) are now happening about once a month. It seems like there are more cards than ever before with only one championship fight than the two I thought was the standard.

So, who is scheduled?

Additionally, UFC 333 is happening in the Etihad Arena in the UAE, so I am not shocked they have Volk scheduled to fight Evloev there with Merab / Yan as co-main. To say a lot without saying much, UFC 332 in SLC is not as important to the UFC as their Middle Eastern cards, clearly.

Joshua Van is fighting Pantoja on 331. Normally, flyweight championships are a co-main event kind of fight (no shade). This being the main event, to me is a sign of weak match making and card building. Volk and Yan are fighting on 333. Former champ, Merab, (responsible for four main or co-main events last year) is fighting for his belt back against Yan. The more I think about who will headline these events, the more I am sure the UFC is pissed they do not have Merab begging for fights every other month anymore. Outside of that, nothing is really announced.

The last piece of the puzzle is to look at the injured champions.

Kayla Harrison is queued up for a fight with Amanda Nunes. That is the fight that will happen once Kayla’s neck is healed from surgery. Woof.

Tom Aspinal got gouged by Ciryl Gane in Q4 of last year. His recovery is well documented on his Youtube, but the UFC will not wait forever. Ciryl and Alex Periera fought for the interim belt at UFC Freedom 250. This is the first step in stripping Tom of the belt. It should be noted though that Tom was the interim champ while Jon Jones ducked him to fight old man Stipe Miocic and had to defend his interim belt. It was not until after he defended his belt (and other Jones BS) that he was finally elevated to champion. At minimum, Tom deserves to be giving the same courtesy that he gave.

Carlos Ulberg blew out his knew and still knocked out the every honorable Jiri. Getting injured in a fight where you become the new champion earns you some time to recover, but that time will end soon enough.

So, who the h*ck is headlining UFC 332?

If I had to guess what fight will be on the card, I genuinely believe we will see:

Shevchenko has quietly been away from the octagon since she beat the championship glory out of Zhang Weili who cashed in her championship belt for a shot at “The Bullet.” Having not fought since November and there not being reports out of a major injury, it seems logical for Shevchenko to get a fight booked before hitting the one year of inactivity mark. This long of inactivity is pretty uncharacteristic of Shevchenko.

Silva is ranked #1, and that is really all there is to it. Shevchenko has cleared out the division, so there really are not many exciting fights to make for her until new life fights up the women’s rankings. This seems like the perfect co-main.

Give me Gane v Volkov 3 for the Interim Heavyweight Championship. I, normally, would not be calling for this fight because Gane has won the first two. Yet, in their last fight it was actually a split decision (29–28, 28–29, 29–28). It was because of this victory that Gane was given the chance to eye gouge Tom for the belt. Yes, Tom did arm bar him in 2022. Ciryl also beat him twice. He also carries the #2 ranking, and has only lost to Tom and Ciryl spanning 13 fights since 2020.

Now that all the circus has settled, I think a rematch gives the overlooked Volkov a chance to get the belt and sets up an interesting match (Aspinal v Volkov) for the reunification bout. As a main event, we would have at least some form of championship taking place.

Alex v Josh Hokit would be fun. Alex is not stoked at Herb Dean and Ciryl Gane for the way his last fight ended. He really was not taking a ton of damage, so the quick-ish turn around would not be unheard of — especially for Alex who has done this a few times. Hokit is entertaining, and I think it would play with in Utah specifically. If we are not getting a championship, this would be a good co-main because of the names. That division also needs some fun activity. If there is not movement towards a belt, the entire division slows down, and the heavyweights really cannot become any less entertaining lol.

Did you know Alex still has the #1 ranking in Light Heavyweight. Maybe the solution is give Alex a crack back at his belt. Set up Alex in an interim championship fight for the LHW belt and give him Costa. Costa looked impressive in his last fight, and these two have name value. Sure, Alex wants belts in three divisions, but I think staying in title fights might be the best way to bounce back from not getting the I-HW belt on the White House lawn.

BMF. SLC. It is happening, maybe? SLC has been host to a BMF headlined card before, and I would not be surprised to see it again. Charles was rumored to be fighting Arman for the BMF on the 331 card. With the death of Alan Nascimento, it is believed that Charles is taking time off. I wonder if we will see Charles a few weeks later. To me, this one seems like a stretch. Also, who would you even face Charles off with that is not a repeat or for a championship? He would either need to go up or down in weight to get a new, unique match up.

This might be my wackiest take, but I could really see a new BMF belt being made that is intended to move between the Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight divisions. The belt currently is moving between Lightweight and could end up in Welterweight or Featherweight, but to get it to HW would take a lot. If the UFC does not want to complicate or over-do the interims for stagnant divisions, I could see a place for a BMF with the big boys. Keep that belt moving on momentum. Make it active. I could see someone like Josh Hokit getting the BMF and using that as a way to build himself up on his way to the HW title shot or trading it in for a shot at LHW one day. A new BMF would be exciting, and the card right now is not.

Why not Sean?

I excluded Sean Strickland from this because of the rankings in his division. He fought in May. The turn-around seems fast, which is not unheard of, but the question of who is next seems to slow this one down.

Sean definitively beat Khamzat. Khamzat wants to move up in weight. This is a hollow #1.
DDP seems like he is next for Sean, especially considering their history. DDP fought on July 18th. They both just had 5 rounds and went hard… so, maybe?
Imavov seems to be the right choice for next up, but he wants to fight on the Paris card in September.
Pyfer needs to fight one more before he should get a shot.
Brendan Allen also needs to fight one or maybe two more.

If there is a Sean fight booked, it would have to be DDP, but that seems more dependent on DDP than anyone else.

My Prediction

Do I think I am right? No. Do I think I am close? Maybe. I really feel like BMF is the clear solution to issue of needing a title fight. I do not think a numbered card is going to do well in SLC without at least one title fight. BMF is free of constraints that other division based belts have. Shevchenko feels like a lock to happen. Gane v Volkov 3 is deserved for Volkov, but I am sick of Gane. Hokit is included just because I have a feeling he will show up, and he is a fun name that might make people like the card more.