UFC 296: Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington fight card, start time, channel guide, betting odds

The final UFC pay-per-view event of the year is nearly upon us. On Dec. 16, the UFC will host UFC 296 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Headlining the card is a welterweight title fight between reigning champion Leon Edwards and former interim title holder, Colby Covington.

Edwards will look to defend his title for the first time against someone not named Kamaru Usman. Edwards won the tile in Aug. 2022 when he knocked out Usman with a stunning head kick in the final minute of their five-round fight. The rematch, in March 2023 saw Edwards retain the title via majority decision. Covington has been sidelined since March 2022 after defeating former foe Jorge Masvidal.

In the co-main event, another title is on the line. The new flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja will defend his title against Brandon Royval. Pantoja won the title in July after defeating Brandon Moreno.

MAIN CARD | PPV | 10 p.m. ET

C Leon Edwards (21-3-0) vs. No. 3 Colby Covington (17-3-0)
C Alexandre Pantoja (26-5-0) vs. No. 2 Brandon Royval (15-6-0)
No. 5 Shavkat Rakhmonov (17-0-0) vs. No. 6 Stephen Thompson (17-6-1)
Tony Ferguson (26-9-0) vs. Paddy Pimblett (20-3-0)
No. 9 Vicente Luque (22-9-1) vs. No. 10 Ian Machado Garry (13-0-0)

PRELIMINARY CARD | ESPN+ | 8 p.m. ET

No. 6 Josh Emmett (18-4-0) vs. No. 10 Bryce Mitchell (16-2-0)
No. 5 Irene Aldana (14-7-0) vs. No. 9 Karol Rosa (17-5-0)
Cody Garbrandt (13-5-0) vs. Brian Kelleher (24-14-0)
No. 12 Casey O'Neill (9-1-0) vs. Ariane Lipski (16-8-0)

EARLY PRELIMINARY CARD | ESPN+ | 6 p.m. ET

No. 14 Alonzo Menifield (14-3-1) vs. No. 15 Dustin Jacoby (19-7-1)
No. 13 Tagir Ulanbekov (15-2-0) vs. No. 15 Cody Durden (16-4-1)
Andre Fili (22-10-0) vs. Lucas Almeida (14-2-0)
Martin Buday (13-1-0) vs. Shamil Gaziev (1-0-0)
Randy Brown (17-5-0) vs. Muslim Salikhov (19-4-0)

UFC 296 odds

The main event odds are pretty close, according to DraftKings. Edwards, the champion is a slight favorite at -148 and Covington is sitting at +124. The co-main event odds are similar. The champion, Pantoja, is a -175 favorite with the challenger sitting at +145.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.