During the broadcast in the aftermath of UFC Macau on Saturday, the first big match-up was announced for UFC 311 in the new year.
On January 18 in Inglewood, California, two former light heavyweight champions will meet for the first time in a contest that many expected to see take place some time ago.
When Jamahal Hill defeated Glover Teixeira to win the vacant title, all signs pointed towards a first title defence taking place against Jiří Procházka.
Procházka had vacated the belt due to a significant injury only for the same series of events to happen to Hill which eventually led to Alex Pereira becoming the champion and stopping both men in consecutive fights.
They are now set to try and bounce back from their knockout losses to "Poatan" in 2024 by facing off with one another in a big fight for the division.
Many expect that Magomed Ankalaev will be the next man to challenge Pereira following his dominant unbeaten streak at 205-pounds.
That leaves the #2 and #3-ranked contenders to put themselves back into title contention if they're able to produce a big win in California.
Hill, after headlining UFC 300 in April, was expected to return at UFC 303 on International Fight Week in June.
The card went through significant changes several weeks out with the rematch between Pereira and Procházka becoming the new main event whilst Hill had match-ups with the likes of Khalil Rountree Jr. and Carlos Ulberg get scheduled and cancelled.
More big fight announcements for the first PPV card of 2025 are set to come shortly with many expecting that the event will be headlined by the lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan.
