International Fight Week might be over, but the biggest fight of the year has yet to come.
The UFC has a stacked summer schedule with four pay-per-view events and only a couple of trips to the crowdless UFC Apex.
The premier promotion crowned a champion at UFC 316 and UFC 317, which saw Ilia Topuria become a two-division champion with a massive knockout of Charles Oliveira last weekend.
While Topuria and Oliveira are both marquee names, two undefeated UFC fighters might have them beat for 2025’s most anticipated fight at UFC 319.
- READ MORE: First fighter to survive Ilia Topuria could challenge for UFC title: ‘People are sleeping on him’
Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319 gets ‘UFC 229’ style poster
There’s high stakes in the middleweight division this August.
UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus du Plessis is set to defend his title for a third time when he meets highly-touted Chechen prodigy Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319 on Aug. 16 in Chicago.
Du Plessis and Chimaev enter the title fight with an incredible combined 25-fight win streak.
Chimaev is 14-0 as a pro with back-to-back wins over former champions Kamaru Usman and Robert Whittaker. The champion Du Plessis has never lost in the Octagon and is riding an 11-fight win streak. Du Plessis stopped Whittaker in two rounds and gave all-time great Israel Adesanya his first submission loss.
The middleweights recieved a minimalistic poster for their upcoming title fight.
The colors resemble those of the UFC 229 poster between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, which is deemed the biggest fight in MMA history for its heated rivalry.
“This is the best fight of the year and it’s not close,” one fan reacted to the poster on X.
“Not if it ends in 30 [seconds],” another replied.
“In that case, it might be the best 30 seconds in history. Two wild dogs,” the fan responded.
Middleweights are split on who wins Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev
Du Plessis vs. Chimaev is one of the most interesting stylistic matchups we’ve seen in recent memory.
It’s a battle of skill vs. will as Chimaev has dominated most of his opponents with his high-level grappling, shattering his last opponent’s jaw with a neck crank.
Meanwhile, du Plessis is as unorthodox as they come, but the South African is effective in whatever he does, whether that’s tapping out Adesanya or putting on a striking clinic against Sean Strickland in his most recent title defense.
Darren Till, a UFC middleweight who trained with Chimaev and went 3 rounds with du Plessis has picked Chimaev to win at UFC 319.
Strickland, who went 10 rounds with du Plessis and has trained with Chimaev, predicts du Plessis to hand Chimaev his first loss.