Preview: UFC 319 ‘Du Plessis vs. Chimaev’

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday will land in Chicago for the first time in over six years with UFC 319 at the United Center. The headliner clearly carries the most intrigue, as Khamzat Chimaev looks to complete what has felt like an inevitable rise towards championship status against reigning middleweight titleholder Dricus Du Plessis, who attempts to surprisingly overachieve one more time. Beyond that, there’s a UFC-versus-Bellator MMA theme of sorts in two main card matchups: Aaron Pico makes his Octagon debut and gets thrown directly into the featherweight contender mix against Lerone Murphy, while fellow former Bellator standout Michael Page tries to build his middleweight momentum against onetime title challenger Jared Cannonier. The last two bouts on the draw are also well-matched. Geoff Neal and Carlos Prates should have an engaging scrap at welterweight, and former flyweight title contender Kai Asakura hunts for his first UFC win against Tim Elliott at 125 pounds.

Now to the UFC 319 “Du Plessis vs. Chimaev” preview:

UFC Middleweight Championship

Dricus Du Plessis (23-2, 9-0 UFC) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (14-0, 8-0 IFC)

BETTING ODDS: Chimaev (-238), du Plessis (+195)

It has come 15 pounds heavier and about half a decade later than most would have expected, but Chimaev’s potential coronation is finally at hand. Given how the bulk of his UFC career has gone, it’s a bit amusing that Chimaev initially took the promotion by storm thanks to his rate of activity, debuting on short notice in 2020 with a dominant win over John Phillips, turning around 10 days later to run over Rhys McKee and then scoring a quick knockout of Gerald Meerschaert less than two months after that. That run immediately made “Borz” a breakout star, so he understandably got fast-tracked into a potential top contender’s fight against Leon Edwards later that year, which is where things started to fall apart. Chimaev got what was apparently a severe case of COVID-19 prior to the matchup, which was rebooked repeatedly before being completely scrapped. Chimaev’s symptoms were bad enough that he even announced his retirement on social media, only for that to get quickly walked back. However, Chimaev did eventually make his return about 13 months after the Meerschaert win, picking right back up where he left off and then some. His return win over Jingliang Li was another quick destruction before he took a hard-fought decision from Gilbert Burns. While being Chimaev’s sternest test, the Burns win did add to the Russian’s bona fides, proving that while he’s still at his most terrifying as a one-round fighter, he has the requisite cardio and toughness to at least hang even with high-level opponents for two more rounds. After the Burns win, matchmakers looked to build UFC 279 around Chimaev running over Nate Diaz in what looked like a one-sided fight on paper, only for him to completely obliterate those plans with his unprofessionalism. He blew weight by nearly 10 pounds, resulting in a complete reshuffling of the card that wound up with Chimaev quickly running through Kevin Holland. That incident also necessitated a full-time move up to middleweight for Chimaev. He has still had his issues getting to the cage but has proven to be worth all the trouble during the one time a year he actually fights. Kamaru Usman stepped up on late notice to fight Chimaev in a bout that went much like the Burns fight. Chimaev proved to be a shockingly effective wrestler and grappler for a round before settling into a more even fight. He then put on a performance that brought back a lot of his buzz, as he quickly found a face crank on Robert Whittaker and crushed his jaw within a matter of minutes. After his requisite near-yearlong layoff, Chimaev now gets his title shot, and as with most Du Plessis fights, it’s unclear what will actually transpire.



Du Plessis has met the moment in mixed martial arts, as his success is both completely baffling and completely understandable in the current state of the sport. A look at any stretch of a Du Plessis fight suggests that something is off, as the South African is a technical mess who never looks completely comfortable, often breathing heavily throughout a fight that usually appears to be a bit of a struggle. However, technique is overrated at 185 pounds and above, and Du Plessis is completely in tune with how the game is played nowadays, combining horsepower and aggression with a shocking amount of physical power and cardio. Du Plessis’ championship-level opponents—Whittaker, Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya—have typically had approaches that play by some sort of rules, only for the South African to take the rulebook and throw it directly in their faces. He seemingly fell into finishes of Whittaker and Adesanya while clearly outpointing Strickland twice. Despite the apparent messiness of his fighting style, Du Plessis does appear to be a bit of a savant when it comes to perceiving and adjusting throughout his fights, often having a surprisingly clear recall of important moments of the fight and some perceptive insights about his ongoing approach. It’s a unique mix of attributes to say the least, and it might just get the job done once again, provided, of course, the champion can survive the first round. There’s a decent shot that Chimaev, who might be on the shortlist of best one-round fighters of all-time, gets this done almost immediately. However, if he fails to do so, Du Plessis figures to be able to coast out a victory. Even beyond Chimaev’s tendency to settle into an even fight, it’s unclear exactly what he will make of all the things that Du Plessis brings to the table, particularly with two additional rounds for the champion to work with. Somehow, Du Plessis appears to be the fighter who deserves more of the benefit of the doubt. The pick is Du Plessis via decision.

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Du Plessis vs. Chimaev
Pico vs. Murphy
Prates vs. Neal
Page vs. Cannonier
Asakura vs. Elliott
The Prelims