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As if it wasn’t already a big enough week in the world of MMA, as we approach this weekend’s UFC 295 card at Madison Square Garden. Dana White has been doing Dana White kind of things by announcing not 1, not 2, but 3 PPV Main Event World Title fights to start 2024.
First off the bat at UFC 297 on January 20th in Toronto, Middleweight World Champion Sean Strickland will defend his title against South Africa’s Dricus Du Plessis. If we were scoring fights purely based on build-up, and theatrics before a fight then this one would be a sure-fire winner hands down. Sean Strickland is one of the sport’s biggest and most outspoken characters, and you just know that the torch paper is going to get lit early in this one. Du Plessis was expected to eventually face Israel Adesanya for the middleweight strap in a grudge match. But Strickland put paid to that earlier this year when he dethroned Adesanya in one of the biggest upsets the UFC has seen in quite some time.
Next up as we move into February with a date and location to be finalised for UFC 298, we will see the return to the 145-pound division of Alexander Volkanovski, as he defends his featherweight world title against Ilia Topuria. When this fight comes around, a huge amount of intrigue will be placed on how Volk looks following his recent 1st round KO loss to Islam Makhachev. However, that fight took place not only on short notice but up at lightweight as Alex dared to be great and become a double UFC Champion. Topuria will be no easy touch for the returning Australian, as he boasts a perfect unblemished record of 14-0, and 12 of those have come inside the distance.
Finally, we make it to March and UFC 299, where we see The Suga Show roll into town as “Suga” Sean O’Malley makes his 1st defence of the Bantamweight world crown in a rematch with Marlon “Chito” Vera. For the people that don’t know, Vera already owns a win over the newly crowned 135-pound champion via TKO. A win that is highly disputed by the current champion O’Malley, due to him suffering a foot injury inside the opening minutes of the first fight. Again the build-up to this one should be fun as both of these athletes share a genuine dislike for one another, with Sean already telling reporters following the announcement of the fight “I’m going to smoke this dude”.
So with main events in place for 297, 298 and 299, the rumour mill will now turn to who main events the historical UFC 300 card in the spring. Will Jon Jones return to headline following his torn pec injury? Or could we see a certain outspoken Irishman make his long awaited return? Who knows. But what we do know is that 2024 is starting off like a BANGER!
Goose out!
Twitter – @TheGooseMMA
- dana white, mma, UFC
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