Volkanovski vs. Gaethje, Yan vs. O'Malley 2 & More: We Book the Biggest UFC Fights of Early 2027

No Contender Series, no numbered main event, just a matchmaking whiteboard. Olin and Pip went live Wednesday for a special edition of The MMAnomaly Show and played UFC booker for early 2027, working Tapology rankings from heavyweight down and stacking the women's divisions at the end. Nano was out, so it was a two-man room and a chat full of dream cards. Headline asks from the thumbnail and the YouTube title got answered along the way: Volkanovski vs. Gaethje, Yan vs. O'Malley 2, Topuria vs. Pimblett, and a pile of contender fights the hosts actually want made. Here is how they booked the early-2027 slate.

Heavyweight

Pip did not need the rankings board. The first name out of his mouth was Alexander Volkov fighting for the title, no matter who comes out of Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit. Both hosts still think Volkov won the split with Gane, and Pip noted Dana White already said publicly that he thought Volkov won it too. On Tapology, Volkov's only recent losses are to Aspinall and Gane, both while they were champions, with wins over Sergei Pavlovich, Jailton Almeida and Waldo Cortes-Acosta in the mix. Olin agreed on the spot: Volkov should be next for the belt.

The booking: Alexander Volkov vs. the Gane-Hokit winner for the heavyweight title.

Light Heavyweight

Champion Carlos Ulberg is recovering from the knee injury that ended his fight with Jiří Procházka, and the division is waiting on Nov. 21 in Doha. Olin's first booking was simple. The winner of Procházka vs. Navajo Stirling gets Ulberg when the champ returns. If Procházka wins, that is the rematch. If Stirling wins, it is teammate vs. teammate for the belt, a fight both men have said they would take.

For the loser of Doha, Olin floated Dominick Reyes, who is five-and-one in his last six and looks like the old Devastator again. Pip's fun booking was Paulo Costa vs. Khalil Rountree Jr., a pure fireworks fight he wants whether Rountree is rising or cooling off. He also floated Robert Whittaker vs. Costa at 205 if Whittaker gets past Bogdan Guskov, with both hosts admitting the rematch six years later at a new weight is a different fight.

The booking: Procházka/Stirling winner vs. Carlos Ulberg. Loser vs. Dominick Reyes. Paulo Costa vs. Khalil Rountree Jr., with Whittaker-Costa as the alternate.

Middleweight

Pip's top of the list was Brendan Allen vs. Dricus du Plessis. Allen is on a four-fight win streak, has been calling DDP out for a while, and both hosts see it as the cleanest number-one contender fight for Sean Strickland's belt. They are cooler on an immediate Strickland-Chimaev rematch with DDP still in the picture and two wins over Strickland of his own.

Further down, they liked Baysangur Susurkaev vs. Junyong Park, with the losers fighting each other, and they lit up over Donte Johnson vs. Ryan Gandra as a prospect fireworks fight. Both leaned Gandra in a quick imaginary pick, and both admitted it would be close.

The booking: Brendan Allen vs. Dricus du Plessis for No. 1 contender. Donte Johnson vs. Ryan Gandra as the banger.

Welterweight

The division already has its biggest near-term fight booked: Carlos Prates vs. Michael Morales for the interim belt. Pip has wanted Morales-Prates for a while and is glad it is finally happening. His read of the triangle is sharp. He likes Prates to beat Morales on fundamentals and range, Morales's chaos as the better style for Islam Makhachev, and Makhachev to beat Prates if that is the title fight that gets made. Olin can see Morales giving Islam the most problems, with the caveat that Islam might be retired before Morales climbs that high.

Beyond the interim, Pip's personal dream fight was Sean Brady vs. Ian Machado Garry. Olin liked Joaquin Buckley vs. Garry if the rumored Amosov fight does not stick, or Buckley vs. Leon Edwards if Garry will not take it. Leon Edwards vs. the loser of Kevin Holland vs. Uros Medic also came up, plus Jack Della Maddalena vs. Brady as a rankings cleanup and Carlos Leal vs. Daniil Donchenko as a money scrap. Yaroslav Amosov remains the dark horse both hosts keep coming back to.

The booking: Prates vs. Morales is already locked. Host dream adds: Brady vs. Garry, Buckley vs. Garry or Edwards, and Amosov somewhere near the top.

Lightweight

This was the loudest division on the show, and the thumbnail fights live here. Pip's first non-negotiable was Arman Tsarukyan getting a title shot. He has been reliable for the company, and both hosts are tired of him waiting. The Gaethje question hangs over everything. If Justin Gaethje retires and vacates, Pip's stadium idea was Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett for the vacant belt at Anfield, with Arman fighting the winner. Olin pushed back on skipping Arman and preferred Topuria-Pimblett as a five-round co-main or non-title fight first, then Arman vs. the winner or Arman vs. Topuria for the real title shot.

Volkanovski vs. Gaethje came up when they crossed into featherweight. Neither host led with it as their lightweight dream fight. It is not that they hate it. They just think Arman has more merit as the next lightweight title fight, and that Volkanovski's cleaner 2027 path might be staying at 145. On the undercard of the division, Olin liked Mauricio Ruffy vs. Tom Nolan and Renato Moicano vs. Grant Dawson. Pip wanted Salahdine Parnasse against the winner of Quillan Salkilld vs. Benoît Saint-Denis rather than a soft debut follow-up.

The booking: Arman Tsarukyan into the title picture. Topuria vs. Pimblett at Anfield (title or five-round co-main, depending on the host). Volkanovski-Gaethje only after the merit fights are respected.

Featherweight

If Volkanovski is still champion into early 2027, Olin's preferred challenger after Doha is Aljamain Sterling, assuming Sterling gets past Kevin Vallejos. That gives Aljo a real run at a second division. The backup path they both liked was Jean Silva vs. Yair Rodriguez, or Silva vs. the Sterling-Vallejos loser if Rodriguez cannot stay healthy. Lerone Murphy vs. Movsar Evloev was the merit rematch after the controversial UFC 333 result, and Murphy vs. Steve Garcia was the fun alternate. They also want Marcus McGhee into ranked opposition against the Melquizael Costa-Jared Gordon winner.

The booking: Aljamain Sterling vs. Alexander Volkanovski if Aljo wins in Doha. Jean Silva vs. Yair Rodriguez. Lerone Murphy vs. Movsar Evloev.

Bantamweight

They counted it down together and landed on the same fight: Petr Yan vs. Sean O'Malley 2. That is the title fight both hosts want next. If Yan needs a long layoff after the Merab trilogy, the backup number-one contender fight is Payton Talbott vs. O'Malley, or Talbott vs. Mario Bautista to keep Talbott climbing. Song Yadong vs. Merab Dvalishvili clears the logjam after Song's knockout of Umar Nurmagomedov, and the more impressive winner of Talbott-Bautista or Song-Merab jumps the line. Deeper bookings included Felipe Lima vs. Kaik Brito-adjacent names, Marcus McGhee vs. David Martinez, Bryce Mitchell vs. Aiemann Zahabi and Montel Jackson vs. Raul Rosas Jr.

The booking: Petr Yan vs. Sean O'Malley 2 for the belt. Payton Talbott vs. Mario Bautista or O'Malley as the alternate contender path. Song Yadong vs. Merab Dvalishvili.

Flyweight

Joshua Van vs. Manel Kape is already the title fight that makes sense. Pip's dream contender fight was Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Tatsuro Taira if Horiguchi beats Asu Almabayev. Olin split the names. He wants Taira vs. Alexandre Pantoja as a real upper-echelon test instead of rushing Van-Pantoja 3, and Horiguchi vs. Brandon Royval if the Gu comes through Doha. Marketing hat on, Olin does not want Japan's two best flyweights killing each other early. Build one to the belt, set the other up next, and do the Japanese title fight at Saitama Super Arena.

The booking: Van vs. Kape for the belt. Horiguchi vs. Taira or Horiguchi vs. Royval, with Taira vs. Pantoja as Olin's preferred stress test.

Women's Divisions

Women's Bantamweight

Both hosts expect Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes to retire after their fight, which opens a vacant belt. Pip's cleanest booking was Luana Santos vs. Ailín Pérez for that title. Olin liked both names and also nodded at rematch or contender ideas around Joselyne Edwards. Nora Cornolle stepping up against the Jacqueline Cavalcanti-Mayra Bueno Silva loser, and the winner facing Chelsea Chandler, was Pip's logjam clearer.

Women's Flyweight

The must-book fight was unanimous: Valentina Shevchenko vs. Natália Silva to unify when Valentina is healthy. Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Alexa Grasso was the next number-one contender fight both hosts liked. Wang Cong vs. Rose Namajunas was the fun striker scrap. Maycee Barber vs. Carli Judice, with the winner moving up the board and the loser getting Casey O'Neill, cleaned up the middle of the rankings.

Women's Strawweight

Pip and Olin both put Zhang Weili vs. Mackenzie Dern at the top of the list. Pip likes Dern's size, improved boxing under Jason Parillo and grappling in a stylistic nightmare for Zhang unless Zhang blitzes early the way she did against Rose. Prospect vs. prospect was Alexia Thainara vs. Fatima Kline, with Denise Gomes also in the Kline conversation.

The booking: Luana Santos vs. Ailín Pérez for vacant 135. Shevchenko vs. Natália Silva to unify 125. Zhang Weili vs. Mackenzie Dern at 115.

Looking Ahead

A lot of these bookings get stress-tested immediately. Gane vs. Hokit and Harrison vs. Nunes land at UFC 334. Procházka vs. Stirling and Sterling vs. Vallejos headline Doha on Nov. 21. Prates vs. Morales and Van vs. Kape are on the January slate, and Salkilld vs. Saint-Denis follows in Sydney. Which early-2027 fight do you want made first? Drop your card in the comments on the YouTube episode. We will keep the receipts when the matchmakers finally catch up.

Stay tuned as we track which of these dream fights actually get signed.