A brand-new main event is headed to “Sin City.”
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight contenders Sean Brady and Joaquin Buckley were originally scheduled to headline UFC Vegas 116 next month (Sat., April 25, 2026). However, plans have changed.
Former Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will now headline the card against surging contender Youssef Zalal, according to reporter Leo Guimaraes.
As for Brady vs. Buckley, the promotion has not officially revealed whether the fight will remain
on the card. However, according to MagicMMA Bets, the Welterweight bout has shifted to UFC 328, which is scheduled to take place in Newark, New Jersey.
Sterling (25-5) will look to make one final run at capturing a title in a second division next month, but he’ll first have to get through a red-hot prospect. “Funkmaster” is coming off a somewhat uneventful unanimous decision win over Brian Ortega at UFC Shanghai.
Prior to that victory, Sterling dropped a competitive decision to Movsar Evloev after scoring a win over Calvin Kattar at UFC 300, putting him at 2-1 since moving up to Featherweight.
Zalal (18-5-1), meanwhile, has been on an impressive run since returning to the UFC in 2024. “The Moroccan Devil” has won five straight fights, four of them by submission.
While the 29-year-old took some criticism for his dominant but uneventful unanimous decision win over Kattar, he quickly won fans back by stopping Josh Emmett in under two minutes at UFC 320 last year (watch highlights).
UFC Vegas 116 will mark Zalal’s first UFC main event.
Here is what UFC Vegas 116 looks like now:
Aljamain Sterling vs. Youssef Zalal
Norma Dumont vs. Joselyne Edwards
Eric McConico vs. Rodolfo Vieira
Raoni Barcelos vs. Montel Jackson
Jafel Filho vs. Lucas Rocha
Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Michelle Montague
Sedriques Dumas vs. Jackson McVey
Davey Grant vs. Adrian Luna Martinetti
AJ Frye vs. Max Gimenis
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.
