Australia will be getting its second UFC card of 2023 later this year, with UFC 293 to be held in Sydney on September 10.
Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena will play host to the card, with Australian MMA fans eager for more of the Down Under action that they got when the UFC visited Perth in February.
The UFC's last visit to Australia provided plenty of fireworks from home-grown fighters, but what can we expect to see from the company's sixth trip to the Harbour City?
Who will be fighting at UFC 293 in Sydney?
Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis
Israel Adesanya looks set to defend his middleweight championship against rising star Dricus Du Plessis, who defeated Robert Whittaker via TKO at UFC 290.
The pair traded barbs inside the cage after the fight and are now likely to headline the UFC event in Sydney, with a confirmation expected soon.
Tai Tuivasa vs. Alexander Volkov
The UFC couldn't put a show on in his hometown without Bam Bam featuring.
Tuivasa, 30, is booked to take on six-foot-seven Russian striker Volkov.
The vastly experienced 34-year-old comes into the bout with a 36-10 record as a professional and holds wins over the likes of Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem.
Tuivasa hasn't fought since being knocked out by Sergey Pavlovich in December and will be hoping to avoid three straight losses when he takes on Volkov in front of what is sure to be a raucous home crowd.
Manel Kape vs. Kai Kara-France
New Zealand's former flyweight title challenger France will be in action, taking on Angola's Manel Kape.
France has lost his last two - a third-round stoppage at the hands of champion Brandon Moreno before a highly contentious split decision defeat to Amir Albazi last month.
"Don't Blink" will be hoping to get back in the win column when he faces the former Rizin bantamweight champion.
Kape himself has won three on the trot but has only had one fight since the start of 2022.
Carlos Ulberg vs. Da Woon Jung
In currently the only confirmed fight for UFC 293, New Zealander Carlos Ulberg will go up against South Korea's Da Woon Jung in a light heavyweight bout.
Ulberg is an up-and-comer in the UFC with plenty of momentum, coming into this clash with an 8-1 record, and riding a four-fight win streak.
But Jung will be no easy win for the Kiwi - three years Ulberg's junior, Jung has already had more than double the fights of his opponent, a 15-4 record, despite coming off of two straight losses.
Casey O'Neill vs. Viviane Araujo
While not officially announced by the UFC, this clash of the flyweights has been confirmed by ESPN's Marc Raimondi.
O'Neill will be looking to bounce back from the first-ever loss, when she went down to Jennifer Maia in March of this year, after nine consecutive wins to begin her career.
Viviane Araujo is also looking to right the ship after some rocky performances, losing three of her last four fights. But with a record of 11-5, she will definitely be ready for war.
Other possibilities
While no other fights have been confirmed for UFC 293, there have been a number of rumours of top Australian fighters ending up on the card.
Alexander Volkanovski appears unlikely to feature on the card, with the featherweight champion revealing he will undergo surgery following his victory over Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290.
Will Alex Volkanovski fight at UFC 293 in Sydney?
The 145-pound king is set to miss the card in Sydney due to a lingering arm injury, which will see Volkanovski undergo surgery after his win over Rodriguez on July 8th.
Despite being just a few months shy of his 35th birthday, “Alexander The Great” is still chasing more opportunities for the future and initially didn’t rule out backing up to fight at UFC 293 in Sydney.
“You never know. If there’s anyone who could do it, it’s definitely me,” he said.
“It’s just when you’re a champion, it’s hard to just fight anybody. You’ve got to fight the right opponents. If there was someone already there and it was an easy option, yeah, we probably would do it.
“We’ll see, I’ll never say never, I think I can turn around, hopefully we can turn around with no injuries. I’d be lying if I said I’m not working on it.”
The upcoming surgery will put any chance of a fight in front of his home fans in severe doubt, but Volkanovski is hopeful of returning to the octagon one more time in 2023.
One potential opponent is Georgia’s Ilia Topuria, who claimed a lopsided decision victory over Josh Emmett at the weekend to cement himself as the next man in line.
Speaking on The MMA Hour, Topuria put his hand up to take on Volkanovski on the road.
“I think Volkanovski is going to hold the belts, I think he will.” Topuria said.
“No f***ing problem [to fight Volkanovski in Australia]. If I’m the best in the world, I can beat him in Australia.
“In Las Vegas, in Miami, in Spain, wherever we go, I beat him. Like, location is no problem.”
The pair exchanged words at the end of UFC 290 in Las Vegas and appear destined for a showdown soon.
Will Robert Whittaker fight at UFC 293 in Sydney?
Whittaker's performance at UFC 290 has thrown a major spanner in the works and given the nature of the his defeat, the Aussie middleweight could now miss the show in Sydney.
“I’d like to fight in September. A pay-per-view card is coming to Sydney so I would like to fight in September, whatever happens,” he told The Sporting News prior to the contender's bout in Las Vegas.
“I’m preparing for Dricus and I’m not looking past Dricus but I can say I want to fight on that card as well.
“If my body’s able to fight in September, I want to fight in September. I’m not really looking at the specifics of names because I’ve got to fight Dricus.”
Whittaker was hopeful of a rematch with Israel Adesanya, but will now be forced to take a different path back to the championship.