Five things to watch for in Week 8 of the 2025 UFL season

Since the start of the 2025 UFL season, St. Louis Battlehawks head coach Anthony Becht has been preparing his team for this weekend's matchup.

Becht has built the Battlehawks to win an UFL title, St. Louis will have to dethrone the current champion Birmingham Stallions in order to do that. They'll get an opportunity to see if they're up to that task this weekend when they host the Stallions at The Dome at America’s Center on Saturday (1 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).

"They’re the reigning champions, so if you want to be where they are, you’ve got to take it from them," Becht said.

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The Stallions won the first and only matchup between these two franchises last season, a 30-26 victory in Birmingham in Week 7 of the regular season. St. Louis failed to make it to the championship game last year, losing to the San Antonio Brahmas in the XFL Conference title game, 25-15.

However, with both teams sitting at 5-2 and tied for the lead atop their respective conferences, Saturday’s game could be a preview of this year’s championship tilt. The Battlehawks hope to play in that one, with the highly anticipated contest taking place in St. Louis. However, Becht understands there’s still a lot of work to do.

"We know how good Birmingham is, but we’re a good team, too," Becht said. "They’re going to have to worry about us as well, so it’s going to be a great matchup."

Elsewhere, the Brahmas (1-6) kick things off by hosting the Memphis Showboats (1-6) on Friday (8 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app). On Saturday, the Michigan Panthers (5-2) hit the road to face the Houston Roughnecks (3-4) in a game that'll be broadcast simultaneously