Boxing PPV Schedule 2026: Zuffa 05 Fights to Watch

The Boxing PPV Schedule for April 2026 got a significant boost from Zuffa 05, a multi-night card that delivered three marquee bouts across April 5 and 6. Promoted under the Zuffa banner — the same organization that built UFC into a global brand — the event stacked featherweight and super bantamweight action on back-to-back nights, giving fight fans one of the busiest spring weekends in recent memory.

Andres Cortes headlined the April 6 slate, extending his undefeated record to 24-0 with a victory over Eridson Garcia. That win came just one night after Mark Magsayo faced Feargal McCrory and Azat Hovhannisyan squared off against Eduardo Baez in separate bouts on the April 5 card. Three fights across two nights — that kind of scheduling density is rare outside a major Las Vegas fight week, and Zuffa 05 pulled it off.

Zuffa 05 and the April Boxing PPV Schedule

Zuffa 05 occupied a prime spot on the April boxing pay-per-view calendar, running April 5-6, 2026, with CBS Sports streaming highlights across both nights. The card drew attention because of its compact, two-night format — a structure that maximizes audience engagement without spreading a single card too thin across a long evening.

Cortes, now 24-0, entered the April 6 main event having not competed at 135 pounds in six years. That weight class jump added a layer of intrigue that most undefeated records simply don’t carry anymore. Lightweight is a brutal proving ground — ask any matchmaker — and Cortes stepped into it against Garcia, who carried a 2-0 record heading into the bout. The numbers reveal a pattern here: Zuffa matched an unbeaten prospect against another unbeaten fighter, a calculated risk designed to stress-test Cortes without exposing him to a seasoned veteran on his first outing at the new weight.

On the April 5 undercard, Magsayo vs. McCrory and Hovhannisyan vs. Baez gave the event genuine depth. Mark Magsayo, the former WBC featherweight champion from the Philippines, brought name recognition and punching power to a card that needed a recognizable draw alongside Cortes. Azat Hovhannisyan, the Armenian knockout artist, clashed with Eduardo Baez in what shaped up as the most physically punishing matchup of the weekend based on both fighters’ styles.

What Does Cortes Going 24-0 Mean for the Division?

Cortes reaching 24-0 while stepping up in weight is the kind of résumé addition that forces matchmakers to take notice. A perfect record at featherweight is one thing; surviving a first outing at lightweight against an unbeaten opponent is another. Based on available data from the Zuffa 05 card, Cortes handled Garcia without issue, though the full competitive picture of Garcia’s opposition level warrants scrutiny before projecting Cortes into elite lightweight matchups.

Breaking down the advanced metrics of unbeaten records: a 24-0 mark means very little without context on opposition quality. Garcia entered at just 2-0, which raises a fair counterargument — Cortes was not yet tested by a proven lightweight contender. That said, the weight class transition itself carries real physical risk, and completing it cleanly on a PPV-level stage is a meaningful data point. The lightweight division in 2026 is among the most competitive in boxing, with multiple sanctioning bodies holding separate champions and a deep pool of contenders jostling for mandatory positions.

Key Developments From Zuffa 05

• Andres Cortes improved to 24-0 with his win over Eridson Garcia on April 6, 2026 — his first fight at 135 pounds in six years.
• Eridson Garcia entered the Cortes bout at 2-0, meaning both fighters on the April 6 main event carried unbeaten records heading into the contest.
• Mark Magsayo, a former WBC featherweight titlist, competed on the April 5 portion of the card against Feargal McCrory.
• Azat Hovhannisyan met Eduardo Baez on April 5, pairing two fighters whose aggressive styles historically produce high-action bouts.
• CBS Sports carried highlights from all three Zuffa 05 bouts, with the Cortes-Garcia footage posted April 6 and the Magsayo and Hovhannisyan clips from April 5.

Where Zuffa 05 Fits in the Broader 2026 Fight Calendar

The broader 2026 Boxing PPV Schedule has been crowded since January, with major promoters — Top Rank, Matchroom, PBC, and now Zuffa — all competing for Saturday night real estate and streaming platform deals. Zuffa’s re-entry into boxing promotion carries historical weight: the organization built UFC from a regional curiosity into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, and its infrastructure for production, media rights, and fighter development gives it advantages that pure boxing promoters lack.

Zuffa 05 airing on CBS Sports — a platform with deep sports credibility and broad cable reach — suggests the promotion is targeting mainstream boxing audiences rather than niche PPV buyers. That distribution strategy matters for fighters like Cortes, whose 24-0 record deserves wider exposure than a subscription-only platform might provide. The numbers suggest that free or basic-cable access to fight highlights drives PPV buy rates for future events, a lesson the boxing industry absorbed slowly over the past decade.

For Magsayo, the Zuffa 05 appearance represented a chance to rebuild momentum after losing the WBC featherweight title. Former champions competing on multi-bout cards — rather than headlining their own PPV events — often signals a promotional reset, and Zuffa offered him a credible platform to do exactly that. Hovhannisyan, meanwhile, has built a following as one of boxing‘s most entertaining pressure fighters, and a pairing with Baez fit that profile cleanly.

The next logical step for Cortes, based on his performance and weight class move, would be a scheduled bout against a ranked lightweight contender — ideally someone inside the top 10 of a major sanctioning body. Zuffa’s track record of building fighters methodically, rather than rushing them into title shots, suggests the 24-0 record will be extended at least once more before a championship opportunity materializes. The broader boxing pay-per-view slate for late spring 2026 has not yet been finalized across all promoters, leaving room for Zuffa to claim another prime date.