LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – AUGUST 15: (L-R) Sean O’Malley kicks Marlon Vera of Ecuador of their bantamweight bout throughout the UFC 252 occasion at UFC APEX on August 15, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Picture by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
November 6, 2023 3:30 pm ET
In line with UFC CEO Dana White, the promotion has three pay-per-view important occasions lined up for the primary quarter of 2024.
White on Monday posted a video on social media to announce three title fights that can headline three separate pay-per-views to open the brand new 12 months: Sean Strickland will defend his middleweight title vs. Dricus Du Plessis in January; Alexander Volkanovski will put his featherweight title on the road in opposition to Ilia Topuria in February; and bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley will face Marlon Vera in March.
BREAKING…… pic.twitter.com/eW9Q23FVmI
— danawhite (@danawhite) November 6, 2023 Solely Strickland vs. Du Plessis has an official date of Jan. 20 at UFC 297, with Toronto as the situation, in keeping with ESPN. White didn’t embody particular dates or areas for Volkanovski vs. Topuria or O’Malley vs. Vera in his video announcement.
Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) getting the title shot at 185 kilos is a break for the South African because the announcement comes on the heels of Khamzat Chimaev suffering a torn hand ligament in his struggle with Kamaru Usman final month at UFC 294. White said prior to UFC 294 that the Usman-Chimaev winner can be subsequent in line to problem Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC). Chimaev won by majority decision.
Du Plessis was set up to challenge then-middleweight champion Israel Adesanya after he completed ex-champ Rober Whittaker this previous July, however he couldn’t make an eight-week turnaround due to harm. In consequence, Strickland bought the title shot as a substitute at UFC 293 and dominated Adesanya for five rounds to dethrone the two-time champ.
Volkanovski (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) will return to featherweight after a second failed try at claiming the light-weight title with one other loss to Islam Makhachev final month. Volkanovski took the rematch with Makhachev on lower than two weeks’ discover and was knocked out with a head kick in the first round at UFC 294. His solely two losses within the UFC are to Makhachev at light-weight. Volkanovski will goal to make his sixth consecutive protection of his featherweight belt when he faces undefeated Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), who’s coming off a five-round unanimous decision win over Josh Emmett this previous June within the UFC on ABC 5 headliner.
O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) vs. Vera (23-8-1 MMA, 15-7 UFC) is a rematch of their August 2020 struggle that “Chito” won by first-round TKO. It’s the one blemish on O’Malley’s profession, which he’s always disputed as being legit as a result of he was injured throughout the ending sequence. O’Malley is trying to defend his belt for the primary time after claiming it from Aljamain Sterling this past August at UFC 292. That very same night time, Vera defeated Pedro Munhoz by unanimous decision for his fifth victory in his previous six fights.
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