5 UFC fighters who will compete in the main event for the first time in 2022

#4. Tom Aspinall - No. 10 ranked UFC Heavyweight

Tom Aspinall holds a record of 11-2

UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall has been perfect since joining promotion in 2020. Since then, he has finished all four of his opponents, including a win over a former champion in Andrei Arlovski. His next bout will be the main event fight against no. 5 ranked Alexander Volkov on March 19 in his home country of England.

Volkov has proved himself to be a world-class heavyweight and holds some big wins over the likes of Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum. He got back to winning ways in his last fight after dropping a decision to Ciryl Gane so will be sure to provide Aspinall with the biggest test of his career.

While this will be a very tough fight for Aspinall, perhaps the home crowd inside the O2 arena could carry him to victory. If he is successful, he will shoot up the rankings and could conceivably only need one more win to secure a heavyweight title shot.

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#3. Magomed Ankalaev - no. 6 ranked UFC light heavyweight

Magomed Ankalaev holds a record of 16-1

Magomed Ankalaev may not be as popular a name as some of the other fighters on this list, but his results show just how great he is. Since losing in his UFC debut, Ankalaev has put together a seven-fight winning streak, including four finishes and three performance bonuses.

This run of form has earned him his first major event bout against former title challenger Thiago Santos. Santos won his last fight and his split decision loss to Jon Jones shows just how good he can be on his day.

Ankalaev has earned this opportunity and it will be interesting to see how he performs in the biggest spot of his career on March 12. Should he secure victory, he will enter the division's top five and might finally begin to receive the recognition he deserves.