Khamzat Chimaev turned in one of the most dominant performances as a title challenger in recent memory.
The main event of UFC 319 at United Center in Chicago saw Dricus Du Plessis put his middleweight title on the line against Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC). The wrestling game of Chimaev was simply too much for Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) to handle. After 25 minutes, the judges turned in unanimous scores of 50-44 to crown Chimaev as the new 185-pound champion.
Just two seconds into the fight, Chimaev shot in and completed a takedown. Du Plessis looked for a guillotine counter, but Chimaev slipped out to take top position. A few seconds later, Chimaev pinned Du Plessis with a crucifix and began raining in short punches. Du Plessis bucked repeatedly and eventually got his arm free to get out of the crucifix, but Chimaev remained heavy on top in side control. In the closing seconds, Du Plessis exploded, but ended up in the same position after a quick scramble.
Du Plessis was all smiles in his corner, and came out firing a head kick to start Round 2. Chimaev responded with a kick of his own, and then took the fight right back to the ground. This time, it was Chimaev on the back with Du Plessis on one knee along the fence. Chimaev threatened a rear-naked choke, but Du Plessis was quick to address it. It was another five-minute frame of one-way traffic.
Chimaev immediately took the fight to the ground again to start Round 3. This takedown brought the fight to the center of the cage, where Chimaev once again found the crucifix position. This time, he added a few hard elbows in with the short punches. Du Plessis escaped the crucifix with a minute to go, but Chimaev took full mount. Du Plessis quickly gave up his back until the horn.
The start of Round 4 saw a striking exchange, and Du Plessis defended a takedown. However, Chimaev went right back in and got the fight to the ground by the cage. Du Plessis continued to struggle to find an answer. With a minute to go, despite working through a few different positions, the referee decided to stand the fighters up. It didn’t matter, because Chimaev immediately got another to close out the round.
Despite being smothered for four rounds, Du Plessis entered the final round with a sense of optimism, and to his credit, he landed a few punches in the opening exchange. Once again, though, it was just a matter of time before Chimaev decided to bring the fight to the ground. Du Plessis found a reversal to take top position, but it was short-lived. The referee gave Du Plessis one more chance with a gift of a stand up. Du Plessis landed a clean right hand and reversed a takedown. He slapped on a rear-naked choke, but there was simply not enough time to pull it off.
With the result, Chimaev gets his crowning moment in his ninth UFC bout. After back-to-back wins over former champions Kamaru Usman and Robert Whittaker, Chimaev got his title shot and was successful in ending the reign of Du Plessis, who entered with two title defenses under his belt.
On the other side, Du Plessis falls out of the winner’s column for the first time since October 2018. Since then, he won 11 straight fights, including entering the UFC and capturing the middleweight title.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 319 results include:
- Khamzat Chimaev def. Dricus Du Plessis via unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-44) – for middleweight title
- Lerone Murphy def. Aaron Pico via knockout (spinning elbow) – Round 1, 3:21
- Carlos Prates def. Geoff Neal via knockout (spinning elbow) – Round 1, 4:59
- Michael Page def. Jared Cannonier via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Tim Elliott def. Kai Asakura via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 4:39
- Baisangur Susurkaev def. Tom Nolan via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:01
- Michal Oleksiejczuk def. Gerald Meerschaert via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:03
- Loopy Godinez def. Jessica Andrade via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Alexander Hernandez def. Chase Hooper via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:58
- Drakkar Klose def. Edson Barboza via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Karine Silva def. Dione Barbosa via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Joseph Morales def. Alibi Idiris via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:04 – “TUF 33” flyweight final
