Khamzat Chimaev

UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis was the picture of dominance in his rematch with Sean Strickland, bloodying his trash-talking challenger to a clear-cut unanimous decision win.

However, the South African star may want to hold off on celebrating too hard just yet, as his win cleared the way for what might be the toughest fight of his career: a showdown with undefeated juggernaut Khamzat Chimaev.

Du Plessis's second meeting with Strickland headlined Saturday's UFC 312 card in Sydney, Australia. It occurred just over one year after their first encounter, which saw Du Plessis claim the middleweight title with a narrow split-decision victory in Toronto, Canada. That verdict left plenty of room for debate as to who was the superior middleweight, but Du Plessis put that debate to bed Down Under.

"I wanted a submission or a knockout or an absolute domination of a five-rounder, and that's what I gave," he told color commentator Daniel Cormier in his post-fight interview.

Du Plessis began to have success very early in the fight — so much so that play-by-play man Jon Anik was proclaiming the champ was "starting to flow" before the first round was even over. Strickland, meanwhile, seemed to have a hard time getting going, and unfortunately, that didn't really change as the fight progressed.

It was a terrible performance from Strickland — reminiscent of Colby Covington's disastrous 2023 title shot against Leon Edwards, not because the challenger failed to do much of anything throughout the fight, but because he'd made countless boastful promises to the contrary in the lead-up to it, and completely failed to deliver on them. Unfortunately for him, Du Plessis didn't slow down either. The champion had drawn blood by the end of round two, and continued to pour on the offense into round three, landing big punches and even a spinning elbow in close, and widening what was already a notable scoring lead.

The champion's best round came in round four when he landed a massive punch that clearly shattered Strickland's nose, and left the American wearing a mask of blood. The impact got an immediate impact from Strickland, who immediately began to paw at his nose, and seemed more or less out of options by the time the round ended.

Heading into the fifth, Strickland got a firm talking-to from his coach Eric Nicksick, who begged him to crank up the offense — as he had several times already in the fight. Unlike Nicksick's previous attempts, this 11th-hour pep talk seemed to have some effect, as Strickland finally started to throw with consequence in the fifth, but Du Plessis was wise to it, and offered plenty of return fire. In other words, it was too little, too late for the challenger. By the time the scorecards were being read, no question would be leaving Sydney with the belt.

"He wanted to stand and bang and I was willing to give that," Du Plessis told Cormier once the fight was over.

Toward the end of his post-fight interview, Du Plessis set his sights on a fight with UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who was in Sydney to support Strickland, who has become one of his regular training partners. That would certainly be a big fight — and it may well happen soon — but Du Plessis has other business to take care of first in Chimaev.

Most fans who aren't enamored with Strickland's stream-of-consciousness trash talk agreed that Chimaev deserved the opportunity to fight for the title before the American got a shot a redemption against Du Plessis. The Russian is undefeated, with recent wins over the likes of Kamaru Usman, Kevin Holland, and Gilbert Burns, and in his last fight, mauled middleweight legend Robert Whittaker to a violent, first-round submission win. That win over Whittaker — who Strickland spent much of last year refusing to fight — was more impressive than anything the American has done outside of beating Israel Adesanya to win the middleweight title in 2023. Chimaev is also at least as big of a star as Strickland.

For whatever reason, the UFC saw fit to have Du Plessis and Strickland run it back first, but now that that's been taken care of, it's time to do what's right and give Chimaev his opportunity.

It's an opportunity he has seemed destined for since he arrived in the UFC during the Covid-19 pandemic, and rattled off three straight stoppage wins in a matter of months. While his progress has been slowed by health issues, he is now undeniable.

At this point, Du Plessis is clearly one of the best pound-for-pound fighters alive. While he tends to fight like his shoelaces are tied together, his awkward style has proven incredibly effective, confounding the likes of Adesanya, Whittaker, and Strickland.

Despite that, he might well enter the cage with Chimaev as an underdog — maybe even a significant one. One way or the other, it's one of the most compelling fights that the UFC could make right now and one that will have fans marking their calendars in anticipation — which could hardly be said of Du Plessis's UFC 312 rematch with Strickland.

There's no other fight to make. Now's the time.

Khamzat Chimaev will no longer compete in a UFC fight against Robert Whittaker in Saudi Arabia on June 22, UFC president Dana White announced Thursday.

Instead, middleweight contender Ikram Aliskerov will take on the former middleweight champion Whittaker.

"Unfortunately, Khamzat Chimaev is out of the fight next weekend in Saudi Arabia," White said. "Violently, and I mean violently, ill. So he's going back home and hopefully he gets well soon."

Chimaev's manager, Majdi Shammas, elaborated on the illness in a post on Instagram (h/t MMA Junkie):

"The persistent illness that Khamzat has been battling for major parts of training camp could not be cured in time," Shammas wrote. "He has been in and out of hospitals several times. The condition has been kept within the team, since everyone has been absolutely committed to finding a solution. Although all available options have been thoroughly considered, it has now come to a point where the team has mutually agreed that it is not possible to carry on like this. Stepping into the cage not properly prepared against such a formidable opponent as Robert is unfortunately impossible."

Though the fight isn't the originally scheduled event, White assured fans that the matchup between Whitaker and Aliskerov should still be exciting:

"This guy is 15-1. His only loss in a 16-fight pro career is to Khamzat Chimaev. So this dude is a legit contender in only his third UFC fight. If he gets a knockout against Robert Whittaker, he'll go into a tie for the longest active UFC knockout streak... We offered everybody in the division this fight. Nobody would take it except Robert Whittaker. The main event is badass. This should be a great fight."

Aliskerov made his way into the UFC after competing in and winning the Dana White Contender Series against Mário Sousa in 2022, earning a contract in the league. He made his UFC debut in 2023 against Phil Hawes, winning the fight via knockout in the first round. His most recent fight was against Warlley Alves at UFC 294, where he won in the first round via TKO.

While Aliskerov has had an outstanding start to his UFC career, facing Whittaker will be his biggest challenge yet.

Whittaker, who became the UFC middleweight champion in 2017, has a 25-7 record and is coming off a unanimous-decision win against Paulo Costa at UFC 298.

Aliskerov is looking to prove himself in the UFC, and taking on Whittaker will be the perfect opportunity to do so.

The card for UFC 300 is still without a main event, but there are reportedly a few options still on the table.

MMA journalist Ariel Helwani said on Monday's episode of The MMA Hour that Israel Adesanya returning for a middleweight title fight against champion Dricus du Plessis is being considered, as is a welterweight title fight between Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad.

Helwani added that Khamzat Chimaev challenging for either title was also in consideration, but Chimaev told MMA Uncensored that he won't be available for the card because it occurs just days after the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Helwani noted that the welterweight title fight between Edwards and Muhammad "is believed to be the last resort in terms of what the promotion would like to put together." He also made it clear that while those fights are being considered, "nothing is done, nothing is agreed to, or in the works, or targeted at the moment."

UFC 300, which is scheduled for April 13 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, currently features a strawweight championship fight between Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan and a BMF title fight between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway. The other announced fights are as follows:

• Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan
• Kayla Harrison vs. Holly Holm
• Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic
• Calvin Kattar vs. Aljamain Sterling
• Bobby Green vs. Jim Miller
• Cody Brundage vs. Bo Nickal
• Diego Lopes vs. Sodiq Yusuff
• Jessica Andrade vs. Marina Rodriguez
• Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt

UFC president Dana White told reporters on Friday that there is still a fight that has yet to be announced and the company is still working on the lineup for the marquee event.

"Who knows who's going to be the UFC 300 headliner," White said. "It's been interesting, I can tell you that. Obviously, we want to deliver. I keep saying this: [Deiveson] Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt is literally the first fight of the night. So when you look at the card how it sits today, every single (fight) could be a main event on a Fight Night or a pay-per-view. We're just waiting for that last one. We've got two more fights we have to put together. We're working on it."

White has already ruled out the possibility of Conor McGregor making his long-awaited return at UFC 300, saying last week that he's expected to face Michael Chandler in the fall. Heavyweight champion Jon Jones is also still sidelined while he recovers from a torn labrum.

It will be interesting to see if UFC 300 lands a main event that will satisfy MMA fans who are expecting to see one of the greatest fight cards of all time.