A middleweight matchup between former 185-pound champion Robert Whittaker and undefeated star Khamzat Chimaev will meet in a UFC Fight Night main event this summer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
This will mark the first time the organization has hosted an event in Saudi Arabia and Dana White announced early Thursday the two fighters will compete in an official No. 1 contender’s matchup with the winner earning a title shot.
“This card is going to be badass from top to bottom,” the UFC president said during the announcement. “It’s going to be historic. It’s our first-ever show from The Kingdom.”
The organization had originally planned on going to Riyadh on March 2, but the UFC's debut there was postponed to June 22 for a combination of reasons. One was that at the time the UFC could not put together a strong enough fight card to warrant holding an event at Kingdom Arena, a venue with a capacity of more than 25,000. Another was the fact a PFL vs. Bellator card took place there in late February and then the Francis Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua boxing match in early March. The UFC would've been sandwiched between those two notable events otherwise.
Chimaev improved to 13-0 in mixed martial arts at UFC 294 in October when he won a three-round majority decision over Kamaru Usman, the former welterweight champion who took that fight on only 10 days’ notice and was making his middleweight debut.
The 29-year-old Chimaev is 7-0 in the UFC with other notable wins over Gilbert Burns, Kevin Holland and Gerald Meerschaert. Considered a blue-chip prospect from the moment he first stepped into the Octagon in the summer of 2020, Chimaev also holds a pre-UFC knockout win over Ikram Aliskerov that has aged very well. Plus, he boasts some of the best wrestling credentials in the division.
Whittaker, meanwhile, bounced back from a technical knockout loss to Dricus Du Plessis last July with a three-round unanimous decision win over Paulo Costa at UFC 298 in February.
Du Plessis is the current middleweight champion after winning a split decision over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January. Du Plessis's first title defence has not yet officially been determined, however, it could be against former longtime middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya who hasn’t fought since losing the title to Strickland by unanimous decision in September.
White announced the following bouts will also take place June 22: Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alexander Volkov; Volkan Oezdemir vs. Johnny Walker; Kelvin Gastelum vs. Daniel Rodriguez; Shara Magomedov vs. Ihor Potieria.
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