Dana White has confirmed that Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev will finally fight for the middleweight title in August.
The duo has been on a collision course since Du Plessis won the strikland belt belt last year. Now, after two defenses of his title, South African Chimaev gives his shot on the gold in one of the most long-awaited attacks of the year.
The fight will take place on August 16 at the United Center in Chicago and serves as the most important event of UFC 319. White has made a whole series of large announcements tonight in an Instagram Live video, including the long-awaited main event of the BIG UFC 317 event of International Fight Week.
Dricus du Plessis vs Khamzat Chimaev confirmed for UFC 319
Dana White today announced via Instagram Live that the main event for UFC 319 Dricus du Plessis will defend his middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev. The competition will take place on August 16 in the 22,000-capacity United Center in Chicago.
There had been rumors that Du Plessis was injured and had withdrawn from a potential fight on the International Vechtweek. But those reports were crushed and a new date was found shortly thereafter when the couple drew to head in Chicago.
Photo by Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty images
The fight marks the return of Chimaev to fight in America for the first time since September 2022, when he took it against Kevin Holland in a bizarre UFC 279 showdown. That week he was comically overweight for his fight with Nate Diaz, which shifted the entire card for hours of notice period.
Since then he has resigned for events in Abu Dhabi once a year, in which he defeated former world champions Kamaru Usman and Robert Whittaker in 2023 and 2024.
Dana White announced further battles in Live Session of Bumper Instagram
The Main Event of UFC 319 was not the only fight announced by Dana White during his last performance on Instagram Live. He has become known for teasing surprise performances on his social media page, where he has more than 10.4 million followers and delivered in an important way tonight.
Although fans are not closer to finding out what happens between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall in heavyweight, we now at least know the situation with lightweight. Ilia Topuria is confronted with Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317.
He also announced that Shara Magomedov will return to UFC Abu Dhabi on the undercard of Robert Whittaker vs Reinier de Ridder.