It seems that the UFC rarely goes more than a few consecutive weeks without hosting an event that features a main event impacting the featherweight division’s fluid title picture.
This weekend will be no different when top-10 145-pound contenders Arnold Allen and Melquizael Costa step into the Octagon at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas for their five-round headline bout Saturday evening.
Allen has been a staple within the top 10 of the weight class for years, yet he hasn’t been able to make much headway in the top five. He enters this weekend officially ranked No. 7 with the streaking Costa sitting at No. 12.
England’s Allen has lost decisions in three of his past four appearances, while Brazil’s Costa has won six in a row in the UFC and has stopped his two most recent opponents in the opening round.
It’s the fifth UFC main event so far this year with featherweights in the final match.
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Reigning titleholder Alexander Volkanovski defended his championship belt with a five-round unanimous decision over Diego Lopes 3.5 months ago in Australia, which was Volkanovski’s second unanimous decision win over Lopes in 10 months.
Kevin Vallejos shone in his first UFC main event when the 24-year-old standout featherweight from Argentina blasted seasoned veteran Josh Emmett within one round in mid-March. Vallejos moved all the way up to No. 10, and if he keeps winning, he’ll be in title contention potentially as early as the end of the year.
One week later, Movsar Evloev cemented his spot as the No. 1-ranked contender when he stayed unbeaten and handed Lerone Murphy the first loss of his career in a de facto title eliminator. Evloev hadn’t fought in 15 months, but after improving to 20-0 in the sport, he is presumably next in line for Volkanovski. The UFC has not yet confirmed Volkanovski’s next title challenger.
Also, less than three weeks ago, former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling continued his strong run at featherweight with an impressive showing as he snapped Youssef Zalal’s eight-fight winning streak. Sterling’s only loss since moving up from 135 to 145 pounds has been a tightly contested three-round decision to Evloev in December 2024 that Sterling feels he did enough to win.
There have also been some notable non-headliner results in the division this year, like when Aaron Pico finally earned his first UFC victory when he topped former Bellator MMA rival Patrício Pitbull on the UFC 327 prelims. Other up-and-comers such as Lerryan Douglas, Luke Riley, Marcio Barbosa and Marwan Rahiki have picked up signature wins in the UFC in the first half of this year and are names to monitor the rest of the year.
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Featherweights Arnold Allen and Melquizael Costa headline a UFC Fight Night card at the Meta Apex. Watch the action on Saturday, May 16 on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+ with coverage beginning at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT.
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The 2026 schedule kicked off in late January with Jean Silva winning a three-round decision over Allen at UFC 324 to leapfrog the Brit in the rankings. Silva is a popular and exciting fighter who’s firmly in title contention. Silva’s only loss in the UFC was to Lopes last September.
Allen’s loss to Silva was his first fight since his win over Giga Chikadze in the summer of 2024, which snapped a two-fight skid that saw him drop a five-round decision to former champion Max Holloway in 2023 and a close three-round decision to Evloev in early January of 2024.
Allen, 32, has said in the past that he was contemplating a move up to the lightweight division, but the move to 155 pounds hasn’t transpired yet. A win over a contender like Costa would have Allen hold his spot within the division, even if it might not necessarily get him any closer to making a case for him getting the next title shot.
Costa, 29, followed up his perfect 4-0 campaign in 2025 by becoming the first fighter to stop divisional stalwart Dan Ige, landing a spinning back kick to earn a highlight-reel technical knockout at UFC Houston in February.
Besides this weekend’s main event, the only other matchup featuring ranked featherweights currently set is Lopes’ upcoming UFC Freedom 250 matchup scheduled against No. 9-ranked Steve Garcia at the White House next month.
That means with a memorable win this weekend – especially either a knockout or submission to make a statement – will keep the winner of Allen vs. Costa near the top of the division and in line for a top-five opponent later in the year.
With a much more proven strength of schedule, Allen enters the bout listed as a slight betting favourite over Costa regardless of their respective recent results. Allen sits at roughly -160 and Costa at +140, according to mid-week BetMGM odds.
“I’m the most dangerous guy in this division,” Costa told UFC.com this week. “I think people haven’t realized that yet, but they’re going to realize it this Saturday when I knock out Arnold Allen, who is someone people say can’t be knocked out.”
UFC Fight Night: Allen vs. Costa also features featherweights in the co-main event with South Korea’s Dooho Choi facing Brazil’s Daniel Santos. Choi is unbeaten in his past three fights but hasn’t competed since December 2024. Santos has won four in a row. The pair were originally supposed to meet in September, but the meeting was postponed after Choi sustained a knee injury.
The only other matchup besides the main event that features ranked fighters is a women’s bantamweight matchup between Brazil’s Ketlen Vieira and Portugal’s Jacqueline Cavalcanti on the prelims.
Vieira, 34, is a 14-fight UFC veteran and holds wins over past 135-pound champions Holly Holm and Miesha Tate, but has alternated wins and losses over the past few years and is coming off a split decision loss to Norma Dumont in November. Cavalcanti, 28, is 10-1 in the sport and 5-0 at the UFC level. Viera is ranked No. 5 in the division but is listed as the underdog against the No. 11-ranked Cavalcanti.
Updates to the card: The organization announced at the beginning of the week that Trey Ogden was removed from his lightweight bout with Thomas Gantt due to injury and replaced by 7-0 UFC newcomer Artur Minev. Rodolfo Bellato was replaced by newcomer Christian Edwards, who’ll face Modestas Bukauskas in a 215-pound catchweight. A scheduled welterweight bout between Nicolas Dalby and Jeremiah Wells was cancelled due to an injury on the Dalby side.
Below is the projected bout order for Saturday’s 13-bout card (subject to change):
— Arnold Allen vs. Melquizael Costa
— Dooho Choi vs. Daniel Santos
— Malcolm Wellmaker vs. Juan Díaz
— Modestas Bukauskas vs. Christian Edwards
— Timothy Cuamba vs. Bernardo Sopaj
— Nikolay Veretennikov vs. Khaos Williams
— Tuco Tokkos vs. Ivan Erslan
— Thomas Gantt vs. Artur Minev
— Ketlen Vieira vs. Jacqueline Cavalcanti
— Cody Brundage vs. Andre Petroski
— Alice Ardelean vs. Polyana Viana
— Daniel Barez vs. Luis Gurule
— Shauna Bannon vs. Nicolle Caliari
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