After ignoring most of mainland Europe for years with the exception of France, the UFC is finally set for a return, and a debut.
On August 1, 2026, the promotion will head to Belgrade, Serbia for its first-ever event in the central European nation. Promotion officials announced the date on Monday.
No fights have been announced for the event, which will be a Fight Night card, per the organization.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the UFC made frequent trips to Europe, with dates in Sweden, the Czech Republic, Russia, England, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Croatia, and Ireland. Several of those nations, including England, Germany, and Sweden, were visited multiple times as the UFC looked to become a global force in MMA.
In more recent years the UFC’s European footprint has waned. Since 2022, the promotion has visited only England, France (where MMA had only recently been legalized), and last year, Azerbaijan. In its absence, KSW and Oktagon MMA have hosted multiple events in packed stadiums, a sign that interest in the sport there is still high.
The UFC, however, is finally taking advantage of having multiple Serbian fighters on its roster. That includes welterweight Uros Medic, who called for a main event spot in Belgrade earlier this year following a win over Geoff Neal. The only hiccup was that Medic, on a three-fight win/finish streak, was encountering issues traveling from the U.S., where he’d been living legally for years.
After that win, however, U.S. President Donald Trump, a noted UFC fan, intervened. Speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press following UFC Houston, Medic revealed that “little do you know, I get back, with Dana White [UFC President and CEO], I’m back in his office, and Dana’s got President Trump on speaker phone. And I’m just standing there, I could not believe what’s happening. I’m talking to the President, he said ‘you’re good to go where ever you please, you can travel, just give Dana the documentation, the information that you need.’ I’m just blown away.”
With Aleksandar Rakic and Dusko Todorovic also of Serbian descent, there’s a good chance both also feature on the August 1 card.
