Carlos
Ulberg isn’t rushing his return to the Octagon.

The reigning
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight titleholder
provided an update on his recovery from an ACL injury following

UFC Abu Dhabi, revealing that he is targeting an early 2027
return to action.

Carlos Ulberg discusses ACL recovery and UFC light heavyweight
title plans

Ulberg suffered the injury in his title-winning knockout victory
over Jiri
Prochazka earlier this year. He recently emphasized that he
does not want to risk any further injury and hence plans to take
his time. In a recent interview with UFC’s Charly Arnolt, “Black
Jag†gave an update on his injury.

“I'm just making sure I do everything I need to keep on task with
my injury, but then also just been working closely with the UFC PI
and make sure I can get back in there as quickly as possible, but
also as safely as possible,†Ulberg said. “We're looking at early
next year, so 2027 if we're being smart, so we don't come in too
early and re-injure ourselves.â€

Ulberg was in attendance at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and saw
former champion Magomed
Ankalaev return to the win column, defeating Bogdan
Guskov in the main event. During the same interview, the Kiwi
champion also commented on Ankalaev's win.

“Congrats to Ankalaev,†he added. “I saw what I needed to see, and
I'll make sure I do everything I can to get back in there. The
division is a little shaky at the moment. No one is very dominant
at the moment. I saw what I needed to see. I'll leave it at that.
I've always seen Ankalaev as a top contender. So, he's definitely
one of the guys that will be up next as well.â€

Ulberg later took to social media to pitch matchups for the
205-pound title mix, suggesting Ankalaev fight Prochazka and
Paulo
Costa take on Khalil
Rountree to determine who deserves the next title shot.

Carlos
Ulberg gives his thoughts about what he saw in the
#UFCAbuDhabi main event 👀

[ LIVE on @ParamountPlus
] pic.twitter.com/lU0ls5ArZ9

— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
July 25, 2026

Carlos
Ulberg proposed a couple of matchups to determine the next
contender at LHW. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/ltvK8vaKMy

— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
July 26, 2026

The lineup for the opening two weeks of the 10th season of
Dana White's Contender Series has been unveiled.

The
Ultimate Fighting Championship announced the bout order during
the
UFC Abu Dhabi broadcast, confirming 10 fights across the first
two episodes of the annual prospect series, which returns to Meta
Apex in Las Vegas on Aug. 11. Each event will stream live on
Paramount+ beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

DWCS Season 10 opening fights feature Anthony Wint vs. Matthew
Adams and 10 UFC hopefuls

Dana White’s Contender Series has become one of the UFC’s primary
talent pipelines, producing numerous ranked contenders and
champions, including current light heavyweight king Carlos
Ulberg.

The upcoming season opener is headlined by a heavyweight clash
between Anthony
Wint and Matthew
Adams, while lightweight prospects Fabrizio
Escarrega and Abe
Alsaghir meet in the co-main event. The second episode's
headliner sees Namo Fazil
taking on Kaik Brito,
with
Dougles Henriques Rodrigues and Trent
Miller set to collide in the co-main event.

Here are the bouts featured in the first two weeks:

Week 1

Anthony
Wint vs. Matthew
Adams (heavyweight)
Fabrizio
Escarrega vs. Abe
Alsaghir (lightweight)
Bilal
Hasan vs. Mridul
Saikia (flyweight)
Tom
Pagliarulo vs. Ananias
Mulumba (featherweight)
Jonathan
Kunneman vs. Joseph
Kropschot (middleweight)

Week 2

Namo
Fazil vs. Kaik Brito
(welterweight)

Dougles Henriques Rodrigues vs. Trent
Miller (middleweight)
Logan
Paxton vs. Cristian
Perez (lightweight)
Alik
Lorenz vs. Mahamed Aly
(light heavyweight)
Roman
Puga vs. Taner
Trembley (featherweight)

It’s almost Tuesday Night time for the
return of DWCS! 🤩

Here’s the official bout order for Season 10’s first 2 weeks of the
show!

[ LIVE ON @ParamountPlus
] pic.twitter.com/2L3vcUw5st

— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
July 25, 2026

One highly regarded MMA coach believes it's time for UFC lightweight Michael Chandler to hang up his gloves.

Chandler has been known for his exciting fighting style throughout his 34-fight career. He's had success inside the cage, having won Bellator gold three times. At the age of 40, Chandler hasn't earned a win since 2022, which means the retirement calls have grown louder.

During an interview with MMAJunkie, Din Thomas said he hopes Chandler can realize that his prime days are over so that he can leave the sport with his health and dignity intact.

“Nah (I don't want to see Chandler fight anymore),†Thomas said. “I think he's got to make a decision on how he just wants to bow out gracefully. I think this comes down to him just trying to find a way to bow out gracefully and just, ‘Hey guys, I did the best I could, it wasn't enough.' And that's a condition of reality, is that no one is promised anything. Hard work doesn't promise you success, belief in yourself doesn't promise you success, and he's a classic case of it.

“We know he's a guy who works hard and we know he's a guy who believes in himself. At one point he was a very talented fighter. But it passed him up, and he's got to accept that and just be able to bow out gracefully.â€

Chandler is in the midst of a four-fight skid, and he has been stopped in three of those bouts. “Iron†recently competed against Mauricio Ruffy on the UFC Freedom 250 card. Chandler was battered and stopped in the opening frame via TKO courtesy of a spinning wheel kick.

Do you think Michael Chandler will end up retiring this year, or will he take another fight? Let us know what you think will happen in the comments below.