The UFC 296 pre-fight press conference will be taking place on December 14, 2023. Fighters involved would be Colby Covington, Leon Edwards, Ian Garry, and Tony Ferguson to name a few. The MMA community will be witnessing an eventful week with the lineup ahead. UFC 296 is scheduled on the next day December 16 2023 with the main card scheduled at 10:30 PM ET.
Further UFC has released their upcoming events for the next year. The events covered would be UFC 297- taking place on January 20, 2024, UFC 298 – February 18 2024 and UFC 299- March 10, 2023. To start the year, Current and newly crowned UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland would be making his first Title defense against No.2 ranked Middleweight Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297.
We are SO ready for the return to Toronto 🇨🇦
The official #UFC297 poster is here! pic.twitter.com/5FfYoFcR4M
— UFC (@ufc) December 8, 2023
Also, the UFC Seasonal press conference is back and will take place on December 15, 2023. It will be held in Las Vegas before the ceremonial weigh-ins for UFC 296 on the same day.
A seasonal UFC press conference is one in which top fighters who are competing in a certain Quarter get together and answer Q&A from media and fans. It will include prominent UFC Fighters who are stepping into the octagon between the January 2024 to March 2024 Quarter events.
The UFC will be holding a “seasonal” press conference next week ahead of the #UFC296 weigh-ins
2024 Seasonal Press Conference Participants:
Sean Strickland – UFC middleweight champion
Dricus Du Plessis – No. 2 UFC middleweight
Raquel Pennington – No. 2 UFC women’s…
— Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) December 11, 2023
The names fans and the MMA community would see are Sean Strickland, Dricus Du Plessis, Alex Volkanovski, Ilia Topuria, Sean O’Malley, Marlon Vera, Mayra Silva, and Raquel Pennington. No. 2 and No.3 ranked Pennington and Silva would be competing in the co-main event for UFC 297. This would be for the vacant women’s Bantamweight title after the retirement of Amanda Nunes.
Why were UFC’s seasonal press conferences stopped?
The last seasonal press conference for UFC took place back in April 2019. It involved fighters such as Amanda Nunes, Henry Cejudo, Rose Namajunas, and Ben Askren. Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal were invited but couldn’t make it. Since then there hasn’t been a seasonal press conference although pre-fight press conferences have continued.
Who should headline UFC 300⁉️🤔💭 pic.twitter.com/yA2Xku3cMc
— MMA UNCENSORED (@MMAUNCENSORED1) November 25, 2023
Even though no official statement was released by the UFC it was majorly believed to be stopped after the pre-pandemic scare and fighters testing positive for COVID-19.
Returning this week, a lot of expectations have been raised by the fans hoping to get to know about the UFC 300 Card. With many speculations about big names such as Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, and even Brock Lesnar, no official statement has been made.
As of now, the upcoming seasonal press conference has the MMA community excited about the fighters involved. UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski will be defending his title against young and hungry No.5 ranked featherweight Ilia Topuria at UFC 298. After defeating former Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 Sean O’Malley is back in action.
Sean O’Malley vs Chito Vera 2 bantamweight title bout is official at #UFC299 March 2024 per Dana White. pic.twitter.com/Yi9jpjxYAj
— MMA UNCENSORED (@MMAUNCENSORED1) November 6, 2023
He would be making his first title defense against his only professional career loss No.6 ranked Marlon Vera. All these fighters will be part of the seasonal press conference. It would be interesting to view their perspectives and game plans for their upcoming fights.
Also, the UFC 296 pre-fight press conference will take place on December 14, 2023. Fighters involved would be Colby Covington, Leon Edwards, Ian Garry, and Tony Ferguson to name a few. The MMA community will be witnessing an eventful week with the lineup ahead.