International Fight Week may be over, but the biggest fight of the year is yet to come.
The UFC has a stacked summer schedule with four pay-per-view events and only a few trips to the public-free UFC Apex.
Premier promotion awarded a champion at UFC 316 and UFC 317, with Ilia Topuria becoming a two-division champion last weekend with a huge knockout from Charles Oliveira.
While Topuria and Oliveira are both selection names, two unbeaten UFC hunters may have them beat for the most expected fight of 2025 on UFC 319.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty images
Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev On UFC 319 gets 'UFC 229' style poster
There are high efforts in the middleweight division in August.
UFC Middenweight Champion Dric Du Plessis will defend his title for the third time when he meets a very affected Chechen Prodigy Khamzat Chimaev on UFC 319 on August 16 on August 16 in Chicago.
Du Plessis and Chimaev go in the title fight with an incredibly combined 25-field profit reak.
Chimaev is 14-0 as a professional with back-to-back victories over former champions Kamaru Usman and Robert Whittaker. The champion du Plessis has never lost in the Octagon and runs on an 11-Fight win-streak. Du Plessis put Whittaker in two rounds and all time gave great Israel Adesanya his first submission loss.
The middle weights received a minimalist poster for their upcoming title fight.
The colors resemble those of the UFC 229 poster between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, which is considered the greatest fight in the MMA history because of its heated rivalry.
“This is the best fight of the year and it is not close,” a fan responded to the poster on X.
“Not if it ends in 30 [seconds]”Another answered.
“In that case it is perhaps the best 30 seconds in history. Two wild dogs,” the fan replied.
Middle weights are divided over who Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev wins
Du plessis vs. Chimaev is one of the most interesting stylistic matchups that we have seen in recent memory.
It is a struggle for skills versus Will, as Chimaev has dominated most of his opponents with his grab at a high level, so that the jaw of his last opponent shatters with a neck crank.
In the meantime, Du Plessis is just as unorthodox as they come, but the South African is effective in whatever he does, whether it is ticking Adesanya or a striking clinic against Sean Strickland in his most recent defending defense.
Darren Till, a UFC center weight that trained with Chimaev and 3 rounds went with Du Plessis, Chimaev chose to win at UFC 319.
Strickland, who went 10 rounds with Du Plessis and has trained with Chimaev, predicts that Du Plessis can be his first loss Chimaev.