Dricus du Plessis or Khamzat Chimaev could be confronted by a top contender at UFC 319.
The middleweight duo will go to war for 185lb gold at United Center in Chicago on August 16.
Whoever emerges with the belt will have to deal with a murderers row of potential challengers.
And one of them will be sitting cageside waiting to confront whoever wins at UFC 319.
- LATEST NEWS: UFC champ Dricus du Plessis shares five-word reaction to Anthony Hernandez destroying top contender
Anthony Hernandez to attend UFC 319
Anthony Hernandez battered Roman Dolidze en route to a fourth-round submission victory at UFC Vegas 109 on Saturday night.
After stretching his win streak to eight in a row, ‘Fluffy’ called to fight the winner of Dricus Du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev.
During his post-fight press conference, Hernandez revealed the UFC is flying him out for the latest middleweight title fight.
“That’s what I’m hearing,” he said when asked about the prospect of attending UFC 319.
“I’m flying to Chicago. So, yeah, I’ll be there.
“I was just told that in the back right now, that [the UFC] are going to fly me out.
“So, I’ll be looking forward to that.”
UFC middleweight rankings
No fighter has ever needed to win more than eight fights in a row to earn a middleweight title shot.
However, Hernandez still appears some way off facing Dricus du Plessis or Khamzat Chimaev.
At #10 right now, he’s not expected to shoot up the middleweight rankings when they update on Tuesday.
So, barring a miracle, Hernandez will have to fight someone in the top five to earn his title shot.
- Nassourdine Imavov
- Sean Strickland
- Khamzat Chimaev
- Israel Adesanya
- Reinier De Ridder
- Caio Borralho
- Robert Whittaker
- Jared Cannonier
- Roman Dolidze
- Anthony Hernandez
- Brendan Allen
- Paulo Costa
- Marvin Vettori
- Abus Magomedov
- Roman Kopylov