UFC 276 could be considered a Down Under battle for attention -- although the combatants aren't in any way at odds with each other.
Israel Adesanya, who defends his middleweight championship against Jared Cannonier in the main event, trains at City Kickboxing in Auckland, New Zealand. That gym is also the training home of men's featherweight titlist Alexander Volkanovski, who defends against Max Holloway in the co-main event on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Adesanya and Volkanovski, like the other fighters who train under coach Eugene Bareman, are close friends. They're also both attention grabbers who make highlights every time they step into the Octagon.
Adesanya is 22-1, his only loss coming in last year's bid for the light heavyweight belt. He is No. 3 in the ESPN pound-for-pound MMA rankings.
Volkanovski (24-1) has won 21 fights in a row, a run extending back to 2013. He is tied for fourth place on the ESPN pound-for-pound list.
Saturday's main card at T-Mobile Arena is on ESPN+ pay-per-view starting at 10 p.m. ET, with prelims on ABC, ESPN and ESPN+ at 8 p.m. and early prelims on ESPN and ESPN+ at 6 p.m.
What are the other storylines behind the fights? How are experts breaking them down? What do the fighters have to say? Here is the fight card, how to watch it and a collection of all of the UFC 276 essentials.
UFC 276 fight card
ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET
Middleweight championship: Israel Adesanya (c) vs. Jared Cannonier
Men's featherweight championship: Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs. Max Holloway
Middleweight: Sean Strickland vs. Alex Pereira
Welterweight: Robbie Lawler vs. Bryan Barberena
Men's bantamweight: Pedro Munhoz vs. Sean O'Malley
ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET
Lightweight: Brad Riddell vs. Jalin Turner
Welterweight: Jim Miller vs. Donald Cerrone
Welterweight: Ian Garry vs. Gabe Green
Middleweight: Brad Tavares vs. Dricus du Plessis
ESPN/ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET
Middleweight: Uriah Hall vs. Andre Muniz
Women's flyweight: Jessica Eye vs. Maycee Barber
Women's bantamweight: Jessica-Rose Clark vs. Julija Stoliarenko
(c) = defending champion
How to watch the fights
Watch the PPV and all other fights on ESPN+: Get ESPN+ here.
Watch the prelims on ABC, ESPN and ESPN+ and early prelims on ESPN and ESPN+. Download the ESPN App | WatchESPN | TV schedule
Don't have ESPN? Get instant access.
Purchased the fight on your phone and want to stream on your TV? Find out how here.
There's also FightCenter, which offers live updates for every UFC card.
Ranking the fights at UFC 276: Two title fights, plus Sean O'Malley prepares to put on a show in Vegas
Middleweight champ Israel Adesanya defends his title in the UFC 276 main event, taking on Jared Cannonier. Right before that, men's featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski faces former champ Max Holloway in a trilogy fight.
But this weekend's event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas has an appeal that extends well beyond the title bouts. There are rising stars and other fighters with the potential to catch that wave. There are legends of the sport looking to wring every drop of magic out of a career to remember. There are solid professionals seeking to disrupt any star-making plans that overlook them. It should be a stellar night of fisticuffs.
Here is one man's ranking of the top five bouts.
It's Max Holloway's final chance to reclaim the division he once owned
LAS VEGAS -- Max Holloway should be under a lot of pressure.
It's Saturday, June 25, seven days before he is set to face Alexander Volkanovski for the third time at UFC 276, and Holloway (23-6) is sitting inside T-Mobile Arena for the first time since December 2019, when he surrendered the featherweight championship to Volkanovski via unanimous decision in their first meeting. The trilogy fight will also take place at T-Mobile Arena.
But as Holloway casually leans back in one of the 20,000 seats, which will be filled by a sold-out crowd Saturday, he doesn't appear to be feeling any extra nerves.
"For sure, both times [I thought I did enough to win]," Holloway told ESPN. "But like a wise man once said, it is what it was."
Alexander Volkanovski: I've earned a shot at lightweight title
Alexander Volkanovski has welcomed Henry Cejudo's return to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency testing pool, but the Australian says he is instead focused on a shift to lightweight and a crack at becoming a two-division UFC champion.
Fresh off his domination of Chan Sung Jung at UFC 273, Volkanovski is already mapping out his plans for the remainder of 2022 -- something Cejudo is unlikely to be a part of, given athletes must typically be subjected to six months of testing before they are eligible to compete.
While Max Holloway -- the American who was Volkanovski's original opponent at UFC 273 -- is the Australian's next opponent, the champion is seemingly more motivated by another challenge. That comes at lightweight, where he sees himself as immediately deserving of a title shot.
"I want that this year. That's something I'm looking at next, even," he told ESPN. "As I said, while this [featherweight] division is sorting itself out: I'm doing my part, I don't want to hold up any divisions. But if this division is getting held up, it's because the contenders aren't taking that No. 1 spot. It's got nothing to do with me."
'Cowboy' Cerrone agrees to fight Jim Miller at UFC 276
Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone has agreed to face Jim Miller at UFC 276, according to UFC officials.
The short-notice bout is the latest turn of events in a wild month for Cerrone (36-16), who is replacing Miller's original opponent, Bobby Green. The fight will take place at the 170-pound welterweight limit.
Cerrone, 39, was scheduled to face Joe Lauzon at UFC 274 on May 7 but was forced to withdraw the day of the fight because of food poisoning. The UFC rebooked that matchup to UFC Fight Night last weekend in Austin; however, it fell apart on its scheduled day again when Lauzon suffered a freak leg injury.
One of the most popular fighters in the UFC for years, Cerrone has acknowledged his career is coming to an end. He's expressed a desire to reach 50 appearances under the WEC and UFC combined. He needs three more bouts to reach that mark, which has never been reached in MMA history.