HYDEN BLOG: Active Fighters and New Title Fights Announced

HYDEN BLOG: Active Fighters and New Title Fights Announced

By: By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senor Columnist

There were no events this past Thanksgiving weekend here in the U.S.A.
so I’ll just cover some news articles.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta (16-2) has fought five times this year, winning
four fights, with three of those by KO. He was wanting to fight a
sixth time this calendar year but he’ll have to settle for fighting
six times in less than a full year, as he’s scheduled to face Derrick
Lewis (29-12, 1 No Contest) at UFC 324 on January 24, 2026.
It’ll actually be well less than a full year for Cortes-Acosta to
fight six times because the first of his fights this year took place
on March 15, 2025 at UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Dolidze 2.
Also included in this run is Cortes-Acosta having two fights in a
three-week period, both first-round knockouts.
That’s incredible.
I would certainly never expect someone to be so active, though I
champion it wholeheartedly and love it.
Kevin Holland (28-15, 1 No Contest) has been historically active,
fighting five times in 2025, and at least three times a calendar year
since his debut in 2015.
At least 25 fighters have fought five times in a year in the UFC, led
by Don Frye (20-9-1, 1 No Contest), who fought eleven times in 1996.
Ten of those were in the UFC, including three one-night tournaments.
Of course, there’s many other fighters across disciplines or
organizations who have fought as much or more as the names I’ve
listed. However, I do want to talk about a current champion who’s been very active this year.
UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili (21-4) has defended his title three times this year and will defend it for the fourth time in
one year (a UFC record) against former UFC Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan (19-5) at UFC 323 on December 6, 2025. This is a rematch of their fight from 2023, where Dvalishvili won a five-round decision. Since then, Yan has won his last three fights while Dvalishvili has won his last 14 fights.
Defending your title four times in a calendar year is an amazing
accomplishment and a testament to the kind of fighter you are, both
physically and mentally.

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Former UFC Featherweight and current UFC Lightweight Champion Ilia
Topuria (17-0) announced that he wouldn’t be competing in the first
quarter of 2026 due to personal reasons. In response, the UFC made an Interim UFC Featherweight Championship fight between Paddy Pimblett (23-3) and former Interim UFC Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje (26-5) at UFC 324 on January 24, 2026.

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UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski (27-4) will defend
his title against Diego Lopes (27-7) at UFC 325 on February 1, 2026.
The two just had a fight at UFC 314 on April 12, 2025 for the vacant
UFC Featherweight Championship, a five-round decision win for
Volkanovski. Lopes beat Jean Silva (16-3) back in September while
Volkanovski hasn’t fought since, so this fight doesn’t make a whole
lot of sense.
Lerone Murphy (17-0-1) and Movsar Evloev (19-0) would be more logical
choices but 9 of 17 wins by decision for Murphy and 12 of 19 decision wins for Evloev versus only 4 of 27 wins by decision for Lopes makes
this an easy choice for the UFC.

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Multiple time PFL Lightweight Tournament winner and UFC Bantamweight
Champion Kayla Harrison (19-1) will defend her title against former
UFC Bantamweight and UFC Featherweight Champion Amanda Nunes (23-5) at UFC 324 on January 24, 2026.
Nunes is making her return to fighting after a two year retirement.

If you’re a collector (action figures, statues, comics, cards, and
more), you should check out
Nibble on the Toyrat website!
It’s an amazing experience that allows you to catalog your own
collection, search for items you want (across multiple storefronts!),
and buy/sell items with other users! You can even create and order
your own custom toys!
It’s an incredible tool that you can use and there’s so much more I
haven’t even mentioned. I would highly recommend that anyone
interested in collecting should join. Thank you.

My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths.
Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately
seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life.
Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to
join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and
Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new
ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace.
However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence,
the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the world forever. This is Book 4 in the series. There’s lots of action,
magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop
game in novel form. It’s on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other
places. If you’re interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you
would check it out and support me. Thank you very much, have a good day.

Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.