UFC 321’s Awesome Main Card Saturday Night

Live coverage of UFC 321 begins at the early time of 10 am ET/ 7 am PT. Stateside, if you’re watching through direct-to-consumer streaming, ESPN+ is the place for gavel-to-gavel fights from Abu Dhabi.

If, by chance, you’ll be watching UFC 321 through traditional television, due to ESPN’s college football coverage on Saturday, FX is where you’ll be able to see the prelims. Main card action caps the day at 2 pm ET/ 11 am PT on ESPN+ pay-per-view.

After an undercard lightweight fight between Abdul-Kareem al-Selwady and Matheus Camilo was scrubbed Thursday upon the former withdrawing from the show, 13 fights remain intact on the schedule. It’s an all-ranked main card all night long Saturday.

UFC 321 Main Event: UFC Heavyweight Championship: [C] Tom Aspinall vs. No. 1 Contender Ciryl Gane

At the top of the bill on Saturday night is a championship doubleheader capped with the battle for the UFC Heavyweight Championship in the UFC 321 main event of the evening. Incumbent heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) will make his first defense of the belt since being elevated to permanent champion this past summer against No. 1 contender Ciryl Gane (13-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC.) This is a five-round fight at five minutes per round.

Champion Aspinall will be making the walk over the weekend with a 4-1 record in his last five fights. Presently, he’s won three fights in succession. Last time out, he scored a first-round knockout in exactly one minute against  Curtis Blaydes (19-5, 1 NC MMA, 14-5, 1 NC UFC) by way of counter jab to ground and pound shots.

This proved to be Aspinall’s one and only defense of the interim heavyweight championship. Nearly a year passed between that fight and UFC CEO Dana White announcing that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones would be retiring from active competition and Aspinall becoming the permanent champion.

How much ring rust does Aspinall have and can he defend the title on Saturday night? Tune in and find out.

Across the way, Ciryl Gane enters his fourth UFC Heavyweight Championship fight on Saturday having posted a mark of 3-2 in his last five contests. He’s emerged victorious from his last two fights in a row.

Last December, he got his hand raised in victory (split decision) versus Alexander Volkov (38-11 MMA, 12-5 UFC) in Las Vegas during UFC 310. Throughout his UFC tenure, he’s gone 1-2 in title fights.

Ciryl Gane’s chances at the UFC Heavyweight Championship could be running out. Will his fourth title fight result in his second title win?

UFC 321 Co-Main Event: Vacant UFC Strawweight Championship: No. 1 Contender Virna Jandiroba vs. No. 5 Contender Mackenzie Dern

Immediately beforehand, the UFC 321 co-main event sees the Vacant UFC Strawweight Championship at stake. No. 1 contender Virna Jandiroba (22-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and No. 5 contender Mackenzie Dern (15-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) vie to become the ninth champion in UFC strawweight divisional history. This, too, is a five-round fight at five minutes per round.

This is a rematch of a fight from December of 2020. That night, Dern bested Jandiroba (unanimous decision) after three rounds in UFC 256

Jandiroba will enter UFC 321 with a record of 5-0 in her last five fights. On April 12, she outpaced Yan Xiaonan (19-5, 1 NC MMA, 9-4 UFC) by unanimous decision during UFC 314 in Miami. All the cards are falling into place for Virna Jandiroba. How will she fare here?

Meanwhile, Mackenzie Dern has gone 3-2 over her five most-recent fights. On the first card of the year, she stopped Amanda Ribas (12-7 MMA, 7-6 UFC) with a third-round armbar submission at the UFC Apex.

During her media availability session Wednesday, Dern mentioned that she did not devote time in her recent training camp to fighting Jandiroba, so can she get a second win over her?

UFC 321: No. 2 Contender Umar Nurmagomedov vs. No. 9 Contender Mario Bautista

Also on UFC 321’s main card, you’ll be seeing a bantamweight affair between No. 2 contender Umar Nurmagomedov (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and No. 9 contender Mario Bautista (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC.) Nurmagomedov enters the weekend sporting a record of 4-1 over the past five contests.

Back on Jan. 18, Nurmagomedov trekked to Anaheim for UFC 311, losing by way of unanimous decision against Merab Dvalishvili, thwarting his bid to become UFC Bantamweight Champion. While a fighter can be dangerous when he’s on a hot streak, he can be just as dangerous after a loss.

Another win can mean another shot at the championship as soon as his next fight. However, his opponent is no slouch, because in the other corner, Mario Bautista has posted a 5-0 record in his previous five trips to the cage.

On June 7, he scored a unanimous decision win over Patchy Mix (20-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) in Newark, NJ during UFC 316. Thursday afternoon, Mix saw his 2024 split decision win in Bellator get reversed to a no-contest against Magomed Magomedov by the French MMA Federation due to a positive drug test. The Mohegan Tribe Department of Regulation, which administered its own drug test on Mix, one that returned negative for marijuana, later revealed that it would allow Mix’s win to be upheld. 

Bautista has won eight fights in a row dating back to February of 2022. He’s already secured a place inside the top-10 at bantamweight, so can he put himself closer to the championship conversation?

Rest of the Card:

The UFC 321 main card will be rounded out by the following fights:

• A crucial heavyweight fixture between No. 2 contender Alexander Volkov (38-11 MMA, 12-5 UFC) and No. 5 contender Jailton Almeida (22-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC)
• and a light heavyweight fight versing No. 7 contender Aleksandar Rakic (14-5 MMA, 6-4 UFC) with No. 5 contender Azamat Murzakanov (15-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC.)

Which fight or fights on UFC 321’s main card are you looking forward to?