A Jan. 23, 2027 UFC Fight Night bout is reportedly being targeted with Vinicius Oliveira set to face Pat Sabatini, with the event’s venue still unconfirmed.
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The UFC’s 2027 schedule is continuing to take shape, with a high-profile featherweight matchup reportedly targeted for January 23, 2027: Vinicius Oliveira against Pat Sabatini.
According to Laerte Viana, the UFC Fight Night event on January 23 is expected to feature the Oliveira-Sabatini bout, though the location has not yet been confirmed.
The report also places the January 23 date within a broader 2026-to-early-2027 run. The UFC still has five events left on its 2026 calendar, and the promotion remains based in Las Vegas this week for another UFC Fight Night card.
UFC 335 is scheduled for December 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to close out 2026, before a lengthy break that does not end until the UFC returns to Dallas on January 16.
After that, the UFC is set to return to Toronto for UFC 336 on January 30, followed by a UFC Fight Night card in Sydney the next week.
Oliveira, currently unranked in the featherweight Top 15 for both the media and Meta AI UFC rankings, earned his UFC opportunity with a first-round knockout on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023. He later secured a “Performance of the Night”-winning knockout against Bernardo Sopaj and saw that bout also take “Fight of the Night” honours.
Oliveira followed that with three straight decision wins, moving up in competition against Mario Bautista, who submitted “Lokdog” in a UFC Fight Night main event last February.
Originally scheduled to return against Giga Chikadze in June, Oliveira instead fought longtime UFC veteran Andre Fili and earned another “Fight of the Night” bonus after stopping Fili with strikes late in the second round.
Sabatini, an American and former Cage Fury FC champion, joined the UFC in 2021 and began his UFC run 4-0 before suffering a knockout loss to Damon Jackson the following year. He rebounded by submitting Lucas Almeida, but was knocked out again by future featherweight title challenger Diego Lopes at UFC 295.
Since then, Sabatini has built a four-fight win streak, most recently beating William Gomis at UFC 328.
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