2026 UFL Week 2: How To Watch, What To Know, Biggest Storylines

The 2026 UFL season continues tomorrow night on FOX with the Columbus Aviators — one of the league’s three brand-new franchises — hosting the defending champion DC Defenders at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt and Curt Menefee will be on the call for the Week 2 bout on FOX UFL Friday — a dedicated night of UFL action taking place each Friday on FOX during the 10-week regular season. All 40 regular-season games — plus the playoffs on Sunday, June 7 and the championship game on Saturday, June 13 — will be televised across FOX, FS1, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and NFL Network. Games will also be available to stream on FOXSports.com, the FOX Sports app and FOX One. Click here for the full regular-season schedules for all eight teams. Here’s everything to know about Week 2: Week 2 (April 3-7) DC Defenders (0-1) at Columbus Aviators (0-1) Key players: Defenders QB Jordan Ta’amu, WR Seth Williams, S Kai Nacua, RB Abram Smith, WR Cornell Powell, WR Ty Scott; Aviators QB Jalan McClendon, RB Toa Taua, RB Zaquandre White. What to know: Shannon Harris, the 2025 UFL Coach of the Year, is back for the Defenders after leading them to a championship title in his first season at the helm. Despite having the most continuity of any team — returning 2025 UFL Championship Game MVP Ta’amu, offensive coordinator Fred Kaiss and defensive coordinator Blake Williams — the Defenders came up short in Week 1. They were sacked seven times and struggled to move the ball on the road. One of the top offenses last year, DC mustered just 153 total yards offensively against St. Louis’ stingy defense and were held to a league-low 10 points in Week 1. A bright stop for DC was when Defenders kicker Matt McCrane booted a 60-yard field goal on the team’s opening drive against St. Louis, marking the first 4-point field goal in UFL history. Led by former NFL receiver and Ohio State standout Ted Ginn Jr., the newly formed Aviators reached the end zone just once in five attempts in Week 1. They also had a costly turnover that ultimately sealed their fate. They’ll look to bounce back in Week 2. [UFL 2026 Title Odds: Renegades, Stallions Tied Atop Board] Louisville Kings (0-1) at Orlando Storm (1-0) Key players: Kings QB Jason Bean, RB Benny Snell Jr.; Storm QB Jack Plummer, WR Elijhah Badger, K Michael Lantz. What to know: Former NFL quarterback Chris Redman’s Kings came up short in Week 1. Bean, who’s coming off a standout collegiate career as a dual-threat signal-caller at Kansas, had a bumpy first start. His interception thrown in the fourth quarter ultimately sealed the two-point loss. Louisville is looking for redemption in Week 2. This was a massive win for Anthony Becht, who moved on from the Battlehawks to become the head coach of the Storm. The Storm will try to build on last week’s performance that featured 356 total yards of offense. [2026 UFL Power Rankings: Renegades, Battlehawks Leading After Week 1] Birmingham Stallions (1-0) at Houston Gamblers (0-1) Key players: Stallions QB Matt Corral, WR Deon Cain, WR John Ross, WR Jaydon Mickens, RB Anthony McFarland Jr.; Gamblers QB Hunter Dekkers, WR Jontre Kirklin, RB Kirk Merritt, CB Damon Arnette. What to know: The Stallions enter the 2026 season looking to continue their dominance from previous years, having won three consecutive spring football championships (USFL titles in 2022 and 2023 and the inaugural UFL title in 2024). They came out on top in Week 1 in a narrow two-point win that featured three takeaways overall — the most for a defense in a season opener. Birmingham is in its first season without coach Skip Hotz, who stepped away from his post this offseason. Former UFL product and ex-Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron is at the helm for the Stallions. Kevin Sumlin’s Gamblers suffered the largest loss in Week 1 (19 points) and are aiming to bounce back this week. They’ll need to figure out what’s going on at quarterback in order to make that happen, as both Nolan Henderson and Hunter Dekkers took snaps last week. The Roughnecks were rebranded to the Gamblers for 2026, reverting to their original name when Sumlin served as the team’s head coach in the legacy USFL in 2022. St. Louis Battlehawks (1-0) at Dallas Renegades (1-0) Key players: Battlehawks QB Brandon Silvers, OLB Pita Taumoepenu, OLB Travis Feeney, DT Carlos Davis; Renegades QB Austin Reed, WR Tyler Vaughns, WR Greg Ward, OL Tremayne Anchrum Jr., WR Deontay Burnett. What to know: Ricky Proehl replaced Becht as the head coach of the Battlehawks, who started Week 1 with a bang. Led by 2025 UFL Defensive Player of the Year Taumoepenu, the Battlehawks sacked the defending champion Defenders seven times on their way to a tough win that served as a revenge game (St. Louis lost to DC at home in the playoffs last season). Taumoepenu finished with 2.5 of those sacks, along with a combined six tackles in the win. Led by former Colorado and Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel, the Renegades — who moved from Dallas to Arlington this season — also came out hot in Week 1. Austin Reed’s first start at quarterback in the UFL was one to remember. The Western Kentucky product engineered a scintillating debut for the Renegades, completing 26 of 40 passes for 376 yards — the most in league history in a regular-season game — three touchdowns and no interceptions in a runaway victory over the Gamblers. Neuheisel’s choice to start Reed over Luis Perez — “The Spring King,” who led the league with 2,238 passing yards last year — was a surprise, but it certainly appears to have worked out. Single-game, season and group tickets are available now at www.theufl.com/tickets.