The new UFC middleweight king has his first title defense set. On Jan. 20th at UFC 297 from Toronto, Canada the newly crowned middleweight champion Sean Strickland will have his first title defense against Dricus du Plessis.
UFC CEO Dana White made the announcement on social media on Monday.
BREAKING…… pic.twitter.com/eW9Q23FVmI
— danawhite (@danawhite) November 6, 2023
Strickland (28-5) is coming off his title victory over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in Sept. where he turned the MMA world upside down by defeating ‘The Last Stylebender’.
Although White had said that the winner of Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kamaru Usman would be the next challenger the shot goes to du Plessis.
Du Plessis (20-2) had been set to face Adesanya before Strickland ultimately got the fight, but he declined to make a quick turnaround for UFC 293. He now gets the title shot that he and many others believe was rightfully his to begin with.
The fight will headline the PPV in Toronto following reports that the top spot would go to Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria. The promotion rather moved that fight to a Feb. PPV and set up the middleweight title fight for UFC 297.
The other title fight at UFC 297 will see the vacant women’s bantamweight title up for grabs between Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva.
