The UFC is beginning their 2025 planning and they are already finalizing bouts for the first month of the year. Over the weekend, MMA Fighting was the first to report that fan-favorite middleweight contenders Chris “The Action Man” Curtis (31-11, 1 NC) and Roman Kopylov (13-3) will battle it out.
These two are scheduled to fight at a UFC Fight Night on January 11th. Starting with Roman Kopylov, he’ll be looking for his second straight win when he takes on Curtis in January. The last time we saw him was back in June when he defeated Cesar Almeida by split decision.
That win came on the heels of his second round loss to Anthony Hernandez back in February. That loss to Hernandez snapped a four-fight win streak for Kopylov where he had finished all four opponents. He’s looking to start another win streak in January against an opponent who will stand and trade with him.
UFC Fight Night
Chris Curtis returns to the octagon in January which will be his first fight since April. Curtis was supposed to face Kevin Holland at UFC 307 this past weekend but Roman Dolidze stepped in after Curtis suffered a fracture in his foot. The last time we saw Curtis, he was in a main event against Brendan Allen.
He finished Allen in their first fight back in 2021, but Allen was able to win a split decision over him in their rematch. That loss prevented Curtis from getting his second straight win of 2024 after he had defeated Marc-Andre Barriault back in January at UFC 297.
Neither of these men are currently in the rankings, but they are knocking on the door. Whoever wins will definitely get a ranked opponent next if they don’t already find themselves amongst the top fifteen.