When is UFC 280? Updated fight card, venue and timings

The UFC 280 card is slowly taking shape and is scheduled for October 22 this year. The event will go down at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and will likely start around 6:00 PM ET.

The fight card currently has seven mouth-watering MMA bouts booked for the UAE event. The main event is, of course, Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev for the vacant UFC lightweight belt. The 155 lbs throne is currently incumbent as the Brazilian was stripped of the title for missing weight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 274.

The co-main event is currently a bantamweight title clash between champion Aljamain Sterling and T.J. Dillashaw. The latter previously challenged for a UFC title in 2019 in the flyweight division, but lost in round one against Henry Cejudo.

Sterling was originally a controversial champion, winning the title via disqualification against Petr Yan after an illegal knee by the Russian. However, he has since rematched Yan and won via split decision.

Belal Muhammad vs. Sean Brady is another recent bout to be added to the card, alongside the surprise announcement of Petr Yan vs. Sean O'Malley. 'Sugar' has made a big name for himself in the UFC but faces a huge jump in competition when taking on Yan at UFC 280.

Beneil Dariush will look to continue his amazing win streak within the lightweight division when he takes on Polish rising star Mateusz Gamrot on the main card. As it stands, this is the only other main card bout to have been announced, with another two fights on the prelim cards.

Russian Zubaira Tukhugov takes on Brazilian Lucas Almeida in the featherweight division and two more Brazilians go head-to-head in the women's ranks. Marina Rodriguez faces Amanda Lemos in the women's 115 lbs division.

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Sean O'Malley on why he's fighting Petr Yan at UFC 280

Many fans and pundits were surprised to see the UFC announce that Sean O'Malley would be taking on Petr Yan at the upcoming UFC 280 event in the UAE.

However, O'Malley recently gave insight at the latest UFC 280 press conference on why and how the bout was made:

"After getting a dominant win over a top 10 guy, there was no one else in the division. I mean, Petr was the only one that didn't have a fight booked and I was ready to book a fight. Petr said 'If I win call him out.' I didn't get the mic after the fight but I think this fight makes sense, it's been a couple years coming."

Watch O'Malley speak at the UFC 280 press conference here:

Sean O'Malley is coming off a no-contest result against Pedro Munhoz after an inadvertent eye poke by the American stopped the bout. Meanwhile, Petr Yan lost his latest bout via split decision against UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.

Since joining the organization, 'Sugar' hasn't fought anybody at Yan's level, meaning his October clash with the Russian will be the toughest test of his MMA career so far.