favouring the \u2018crazy\u2019 style<\/a> of \u2018The Wolf\u2019 but others like Reinier de Ridder believe the difficult Dricus could pull off another underdog win.<\/p>\n\u2018Borz\u2019 won his last bout against Robert Whittaker in the first round with a dominant choke victory to guarantee him this world title shot.<\/p>\n
![\"Khamzat](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2181229394-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC<\/p>\n
\u2018Stillknocks\u2019 completed his second defence of his championship crown with a unanimous points win over Sean Strickland in their rematch.<\/p>\n
Neither man is short on confidence, with both believing their unique assets will be enough to secure a victory in the Octagon.<\/p>\n
Here is everything you need to know about UFC 319 Du Plessis vs Chimaev.<\/p>\n
When is UFC 319 Du Plessis vs Chimaev?<\/p>\n
UFC 319 Du Plessis vs Chimaev will take place at the United Center in Chicago on August 16th.<\/p>\n
What time is UFC 319 Du Plessis vs Chimaev?<\/p>\n
The UFC 319 Du Plessis vs Chimaev card is scheduled to start with the early preliminaries at 11:00 (BST), 6:00 PM (ET), 3:00 PM (PT).<\/p>\n
The main Prelims start at 1:00 AM (BST), 8:00 PM (ET), 5:00 PM (PT).<\/p>\n
The UFC 319 main card will begin coverage at 3:00 AM (BST), 10:00 PM (ET), 8:00 PM (PT).<\/p>\n
Main event cage walks are estimated to take place at 5:00 AM (BST) but could be later depending on other fights.<\/p>\n
What channel is UFC 319 Du Plessis vs Chimaev?<\/p>\n
UFC 319 Du Plessis vs Chimaev will be streamed on TNT Sports and Discovery+.<\/p>\n
The early prelims will be available on the UFC Fight Pass.<\/p>\n
UFC 319 Du Plessis vs Chimaev Prelim cards<\/p>\n
The early preliminary card is as follows:<\/p>\n
Lightweight: Edson Barboza vs Drakkar KloseMiddleweight: Bryan Battle vs Nursulton RuziboevFlyweight: Karine Silva vs Dione Barbosa<\/p>\n
The main preliminary card is as follows:<\/p>\n
Lightweight: King Green vs Diego FerreiraMiddleweight: Gerald Meerschaert vs Micha\u0142 OleksiejczukStrawweight: Jessica Andrade vs Loopy GodinezLightweight: Chase Hooper vs Alexander HernandezUFC 319 Du Plessis vs Chimaev Main card<\/p>\n
The UFC 319 main card is as follows:<\/p>\n
UFC Middleweight title: Dricus du Plessis vs Khamzat ChimaevFeatherweight: Lerone Murphy vs Aaron PicoWelterweight: Geoff Neal vs Carlos PratesMiddleweight: Jared Cannonier vs Michael PageFlyweight: Tim Elliott vs Kai AsakuraDricus Du Plessis is not \u2018bargaining\u2019 on Khamzat Chimaev\u2019s weakness at UFC 319<\/p>\n
A criticism that has been levelled at the Chechen is that he gets tired when a fight goes the distance.<\/p>\n
His performances against Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman are always brought up as examples of when he has failed to get the early finish, he faces some adversity with his gas tank.<\/p>\n
However, the South African is not concerned with the potential of the Russian tiring; he is focused on his own fight.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the New York Post, he said: \u201cNo, that\u2019s not me. That\u2019s never going to happen,\u201d said du Plessis, a finisher who has gone the distance just three times as a pro. \u201cYou can\u2019t go and say, \u2018Oh, this guy always gets tired.\u2019 What if he doesn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t bargain on somebody else\u2019s weakness when you go and fight,\u201d he added. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what that guy\u2019s going through, how he\u2019s preparing. \u2026 When the ref says, \u2018fight,\u2019 I\u2019m fighting as hard as I can for as long as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether Chimaev will tire remains to be seen, especially with a focus on cardio in camp, but one thing is for sure: both men are looking to finish the other in style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC 319 will dictate the future of the middleweight division when Dricus Du Plessis defends against Khamzat Chimaev.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,20207,786,4120,785,85,787],"class_list":["post-59559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dricus-du-plessis","tag-fighting","tag-khamzat-chimaev","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}