The mixed martial arts world is preparing for a stellar showdown. UFC CEO Dana White announced that the middleweight title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev will be the main event of UFC 319.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pay-per-view event is scheduled for August 16 at the United Center in Chicago. This event will mark the return of the UFC to Chicago since 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dricus Du Plessis, from South Africa, will seek to defend his title for the third time. The fighter won the belt after a split decision against Sean Strickland in 2024 and has already achieved two successful defenses against Israel Adesanya and in the rematch against Strickland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Du Plessis boasts an impressive streak of 11 consecutive victories, including a perfect 9-0 record in the UFC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Khamzat Chimaev, this title fight represents a long-awaited opportunity. The Chechen contender burst onto the scene in 2020, winning his first two UFC fights in a span of ten days. However, he has struggled to stay active due to various problems, including health complications from COVID-19 that led him to consider retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chimaev, 31, has proven to be dominant when he has been active. His last victory was by submission in the first round over former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in October, in a fight where Whittaker failed to land a single strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chimaev also has notable victories against Kamaru Usman, Gilbert Burns, and Kevin Holland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dricus Du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev to Headline UFC 319 The mixed martial arts world is preparing for a stellar showdown. UFC CEO Dana White announced that the middleweight title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev will be the main event of UFC 319. The pay-per-view event is scheduled for August 16 at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1204,2092,2093,2094],"class_list":{"0":"post-5946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-dricus-du-plessis","10":"tag-khamzat-chimaev","11":"tag-ufc-319"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}