The UFC will look to hit the ground running in 2025 with their first event on Jan. 11 from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada headlined by a rematch between strawweights Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas.
The UFC revealed the entire lineup on Tuesday.
Dern (14-5) will look to tie the record with Ribas in the headliner. Dern dropped their first bout by decision in 2019 in Tampa, Florida. The world-class grappler is coming off a victory over Lupita Godinez in August, but looks went 2-3 in her last five.
Ribas (13-5) also needs to build momentum as she also has a 2-3 record in her last five bouts. She challenged former champion Rose Namajunas in March coming out on the losing end by decision.
In the co-main event middleweight standouts Chris Curtis and Roman Kopylov will look to make their way up an ever-evolving 185 division.
Curtis (31-11, 1NC) holds victories over Marc-Andre Barriault, Joaquin Buckley and Brendan Allen. He comes off a split-decision loss to Allen in their rematch in April.
Kopylov (13-3) continues to build momentum towards a ranking having gone 4-1 in his last five fights. The Russian middleweight has wins over Cesar Almedia, Josh Fremd, Punahele Soriano and Claudio Ribeiro.
Other bouts announced for the card include:
- Marco Tulio vs. Ihor Potieria
- Thiago Moises vs. Trey Ogden
- Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs. Bruno Lopes
- Cesar Almeida vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
- Christian Rodriguez vs. Austin Bashi
- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Carlston Harris
- Punahele Soriano vs. Uros Medic
- Jose Johnson vs. Felipe Bunes
- Nurullo Aliev vs. Yanal Ashmouz
- Ernesta Kareckaite vs. Nicolle Caliari
- Preston Parsons vs. Andreas Gustafsson
- Fatima Kline vs. Viktoriia Dudakova
UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Ribas 2 takes place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas on Jan. 11 live on ESPN+
