Is there a UFC fight on Christmas Eve?
As the title implies, 2023 is rapidly coming to a close. At time of writing, there is but a short two weeks before Christmas. While there will undoubtedly be food, fun, and fellowship to be had this holiday season, it can all be overstimulating.
Maybe you are just looking for a break from the holiday cheer, or perhaps you need some background noise while you do Santa's dirty work and assemble gifts. As a fight fan, you are probably hoping the UFC has you covered with a special Christmas Eve card.
After all, the UFC delivered on Mexican Independence Day with Noche UFC, Saint Patrick's Day weekend with UFC 286, Easter weekend with UFC 287, Labor Day weekend, and even Veteran's Day. Surely that gives fight fans decent odds at event sometime during the Christmas holiday.
UFC 296 is the final fight card for 2023
The bad news is that there are not any UFC events between UFC 296 on December 16, 2023 and the next Fight Night card on January 13, 2024. The good news is that UFC 300, the next milestone PPV, is that much closer. Jim Miller has repeatedly expressed an interest in fighting at UFC 300, as it would mean he fought at every century mark PPV since the beginning, which feels like the right thing to do. Like Miller or not, he is a future hall of fame candidate. Miller is currently scheduled to face Gabriel Benitez on the first card of 2024, so it is still not out of the question, but certainly feels less likely.
While the NFL and NBA are not nearly as entertaining as the UFC, they will have to suffice until the UFC returns to action. Despite the lack of MMA on tap during the holidays, one would have to imagine some of the MMA podcasts will put out some awards episodes, which might help take the sting out.
If you are a hardcore MMA fan, you might even take a tiny bit of solace that ONE Championship looks to be the first promotion to return to action a day earlier on January 12, 2024 from Bangkok, Thailand.
At this point, unless you are one of the lucky winners of Dana White's 12 Days of Giving, the best we can hope for is a late Christmas present from Uncle Dana letting us know what to expect for UFC 300 and his surprise "super fight" in the works.
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