With UFC 319 quickly on the way in which, the primary occasion begins to present MMA followers extra goosebumps because it attracts nearer.
Dricus Du Plessis is ready to make his third middleweight title defence in Chicago after defeating Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland.
Nonetheless, the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev is wanting just like the scariest opponent at 185 kilos, giving everybody a tough time as he approaches his title combat.
Whereas he’s seen as one of many scariest UFC fighters, two warriors did put up a gruelling combat towards ‘Borz’.
Kamaru Usman
At UFC 294, Chimaev was initially speculated to tackle heated rival Paulo Costa.
Nonetheless, the Brazilian needed to bear surgical procedure to deal with an contaminated bursa on his proper elbow.
On 9 days’ brief discover, the previous UFC Welterweight Champion stepped up to co-headline the Abu Dhabi occasion.
Usman was coming off two consecutive title losses to Leon Edwards as he made the courageous choice to compete in a Middleweight bout.
The battle began with the Russian-born fighter ultimately grappling Usman to the bottom earlier than trying a Rear-Bare Choke.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ was in a position to escape the submission and head into spherical two as each males examined one another on the toes, regardless of a mixed complete of 20 vital strikes being landed within the spherical.
The ultimate spherical was undoubtedly essentially the most thrilling as Chimaev took down Usman as soon as once more.
Nonetheless, the previous champion was in a position to get again to his toes earlier than each males exchanged a number of punches till the buzzer.
‘Borz’ gained the combat by majority choice, making it the closest contest of his MMA profession.
Gilbert Burns
After coming into the Welterweight rankings with a fast submission win towards Li Jingliang at UFC 267, Chimaev would solely need to rise additional.
And his want got here true when he took on #3 contender, Gilbert Burns, at UFC 273.
‘Durinho’ had fought for the undisputed 170-pound belt a 12 months earlier than, dropping to Usman by third-round TKO at UFC 258.
However, he did redeem himself with a choice win towards Stephen Thompson at UFC 264, hoping to get a second title alternative.
The primary spherical was solely build up a wild brawl, as after some grappling from the #11 contender, Chimaev knocked down Burns, however the Brazilian was not down and out.
The second 5 minutes had been seen as essentially the most action-packed in 202,2 with each males exchanging strikes, livening up the gang.
Burns landed two wild proper palms, which had Chimaev crashing down after buying and selling quite a few punches.
The 2 warriors continued to land fierce strikes within the closing spherical as everybody was on their toes cheering and applauding as soon as the combat was over.
Chimaev gained by unanimous choice, going the gap for the primary time in his profession in a Combat of the Yr contender.
