From Nunes-Harrison to Pimblett-Gaethje: UFC 324 is stacked

The UFC is moving away from pay-per-view for numbered cards for the first time in its history, and President Dana White has put together a star-studded lineup for the first card set to take place on January 24th.

The UFC will be moving to Paramount+ for the foreseeable future after they reached a seven-year, 7.7 billion dollar deal, which will move all UFC events to their streaming service.

As for UFC 324, this card is loaded with talent.

The first fight we’ll take a look at is between the No. 1-ranked bantamweight, Umar Nurmagomedov and the No. 6-ranked bantamweight, Deiveson Figueiredo.

Nurmagomedov is coming off a win over Mario Bautista, and a win over Figueiredo would likely line him up for a rematch with bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.

As for the former flyweight champion, Figueiredo is 4-2 since moving to bantamweight, but a win over Nurmagomedov would likely vault him into the No. 1 spot in the bantamweight rankings and put him right on the cusp for a title fight.

I’m going to take Nurmagomedov in this fight. His wrestling will prove to be too much for Figueiredo.

The next fight on tap is between two former champions, Alexa Grasso and “Thug” Rose Namajunas.

Grasso, who is the only woman since Amanda Nunes in 2017 to defeat the current women's flyweight champion, Valentina Shevchenko, is looking to bounce back after a loss to Natalia Silva.

She’ll have an extremely difficult test in front of her in the form of thug Rose. Namajunas is coming off a win over Miranda Maverick, and the former women's strawweight champion is looking to claim gold in a second weight class, something only Amanda Nunes has done.

I like Namajunas in this one. Ever since the move to flyweight, she’s had to cut less weight, and she’s looked healthier in the cage. I think she will outclass Grasso in this fight.

Next, we fight in the featherweight division between Arnold Allen and Jean Silva.

Allen, who is making his return after a year and a half away from fighting, will be tasked with stopping the red-hot Jean Silva.

Silva, who suffered his first loss to Diego Lopes in September, had looked unstoppable before his loss.

He had finished every fight since entering the UFC and was 5-0. He’ll look to get right against the No. 6 featherweight contender in the world.

Whoever wins the striking exchanges will win this fight. I like Silva to get the better of the returning Allen in this one.

The next fight we’ll discuss is in the heavyweight division. Waldo Cortes Acosta will take on Derrick Lewis.

Lewis, who is known as the “contender killer”, is looking to stop Cortes Acosta’s rise while simultaneously looking to rise the heavyweight rankings.

With the heavyweight division in limbo right now, with Tom Aspinall dealing with an injury, this is a huge fight (no pun intended) for both of these fighters.

A win for either of these heavyweights would propel them into the top three in the heavyweight rankings and could line them up for a potential interim title fight.

Lewis has proven to stop contenders in their tracks before; however, Cortes Acosta is just too quick, so I like him to win this fight.

The last non-title fight on the card is in the bantamweight division between the former champion “Suga” Sean O’Malley and Song Yadong.

Yadong is nasty, a straight-up striking machine, but O’Malley is just better than him. I don’t want to overcomplicate it, O’Malley is far and away a better striker than Yadong.

I expect the “Suga Show” to get right back on track after two losses to the current champion Merab Dvalishvili and re-insert himself into title contention.

The co-main event is one that every MMA fan should be ecstatic for. The greatest women's MMA fighter of all time, Amanda Nunes, makes her return to fight the current women's bantamweight champion, Kayla Harrison.

Nunes, who retired in 2023 after defending her bantamweight title against Irene Aldana, will be returning to try and reclaim the title that she relinquished.

As for the champion, Harrison spent six years fighting in the PFL before making the jump to the UFC. She was 15-1 in the PFL and has since gone 3-0 in the UFC, including her championship win over Julianna Pena (the only woman to ever defeat Nunes in a championship fight).

This is a dream fight, one along the lines of Rousey versus Holm or McGregor versus Nurmagomedov.

I personally think Nunes will get the better of Harrison, but I worry about the ring rust Amanda will face after not fighting for nearly three years.

No matter the winner, this fight will change UFC history forever and I am so excited for it.

After lightweight champion Ilia Topuria announced that he wouldn’t be fighting in the first quarter of 2026 due to personal issues, Dana White decided that it would be in the UFC’s best interest to crown an interim champion.

Enter Justin Gaethje. Enter Paddy Pimblett.

Two of the UFC’s best lightweights will square off in the main event to crown an interim lightweight champion.

Gaethje has been around the block and has fought just about everyone in the division, most recently defeating Rafael Fiziev.

Pimblett defeated Michael Chandler in his last fight and is undefeated in the UFC.

The winner of this fight will either fight Topuria next or, if Ilia is still not ready to fight, Arman Tsarukyan, who many believe is deserving of the next title shot.

I’m going to take Pimblett in this fight as I think his jujutsu will be too much for Gaethje, who hasn’t used his ground game nearly enough in the UFC.

All in all, UFC 324 is sure to be a fantastic card that will certainly change the landscape of the UFC regardless of the outcome.

Sawyer Bogaty is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email him at sgb5468@psu.edu.