Ulberg Provides Update On His Return

UFC heavyweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg says his first title defense won't come until early next year as he continues recovering from ACL surgery.

Ulberg fought through the torn ACL to knock out Jiri Prochazka in the first round and claim the title on April 11, undergoing surgery six days later.

"It sucks to be on the sidelines… doing my rehab. I'm doing everything to make sure that as the champion, I get myself back on the mats… so that I can come and defend my title early next year," Ulberg

The 35-year-old has strung together wins over Jan Blachowicz, Dominick Reyes and Prochazka. His likely first challenger is either former champion Magomed Ankalaev (22-2-1), who bounced back from his loss to Alex Pereira with a finish of Bogdan Guskov in July, or Paulo Costa (16-4), riding back-to-back wins over Roman Kopylov and Azamat Murzakanov since his 2024 loss to Sean Strickland.