It seems Israel
Adesanya and Dricus Du
Plessis won’t be getting a shot at the middleweight title any
time soon.
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Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White confirmed that
the winner of the recently revealed middleweight clash between
former welterweight champion Kamaru
Usman (20-3) and Khamzat
Chimaev (12-0) at
UFC 294 will be next in line for a title shot against Sean
Strickland.
Initially, “Borz” was slated to face Paulo Costa
at UFC 294 before a staph infection in Costa’s elbow derailed the
bout. That opened the door for former welterweight king Kamaru
Usman to make his middleweight debut against Chimaev on just 10
days‘ notice. Considering the last-minute reshuffling and Usman’s
championship mettle, fans speculated the newly formed matchup would
serve as a middleweight title eliminator.
Addressing the topic in a recent appearance on “The Pat McAfee
Show,” the UFC head honcho made the rumors official.
“That is an absolute fact. The fact that these guys are taking this
fight on short notice, [the winner] will get the next shot at the
title barring injuries and other things that can possibly
happen.”
Usman is coming off two consecutive losses to long-time rival
Leon
Edwards. “The Nigerian Nightmare” has been out of action since
UFC 286, which took place in March.
Chimaev, on the other hand, hasn’t stepped inside the Octagon since
September 2022, when he defeated Kevin
Holland in a last-minute catchweight bout at UFC 279. While
“Borz” was initially set to face Nate Diaz in a
welterweight bout, the Russian-born Swede missed weight for the
contest by 7.5 pounds, which led to a number of fights being
reshuffled and his move to middleweight.