One of the ways UFC fighters connect with fans is by sharing live reactions to numbered fight cards on social media – a tradition that former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has embraced for years.

With the dust barely settled from UFC 318, fans are already turning their attention to the highly anticipated clash between Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319, set for August 16. The South African champion will make his third title defense in what promises to be a thrilling middleweight showdown.

“Dricus gets it”

Adesanya, who held the belt during two separate reigns (2019-2022 and 2023), offered his take while watching the UFC 319 promo.

“I still think Dricus gets it, late finish…” the 36-year-old said. “Dricus is just chaotic. Chaotic good. Chaotic evil. That’s literally what this fight might be. Chaotic good versus chaotic evil​.”

The matchup is shaping up to be a must-watch. Du Plessis is riding high after back-to-back wins over legends Sean Strickland and Adesanya himself, and he’ll be looking to further cement his legacy.

Meanwhile, Chimaev is aiming to prove his elite status and keep his undefeated record intact by capturing UFC gold.

UFC 319: Du Plessis vs Chimaev – main fight card:

• Dricus du Plessis vs Khamzat Chimaev – middleweight
• Geoff Neal vs Carlos Prates – welterweight
• Jared Cannonier vs Michael Page – middleweight
• Tim Elliot vs Kai Asakara – flyweight

How to watch UFC 319

Viewers in the U.S. will be able to watch Du Plessis and Chimaev’s UFC middleweight title fight on ESPN+ PPV. The main card at UFC 319 – an event which is to be hosted by United Center in Chicago, Illinois – is scheduled to begin at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.

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Petr Yan began his reign over the bantamweight division with a brutal win over arguably the greatest featherweight fighter of all time.

This coming Saturday, Russian fan favorite Petr Yan returns to action at UFC Abu Dhabi when he takes on surging bantamweight contender Marcus McGhee.

Initially when the fight was booked, not only were UFC fans confused by the matchmaking but Merab Dvalishvili even questioned the fight booking, stating that the division is ‘very stuck’.

Not only that but to make matters even more confusing, before he accepted the bizarre fight against ‘The Maniac’, Yan claimed he was promised a title fight.

Yan brutally finished Jose Aldo to begin his short bantamweight title reign

‘No Mercy’ Yan has long been considered as one of the best active bantamweight fighters and his former foe Sean O’Malley even named him as the hardest-hitter he’s ever faced.

When the Russian striker debuted in the UFC in 2018, it became immediately clear that he would likely one day compete for the 135lb title.

And it was just two years later when he was finally granted his title shot when he was booked to take on Jose Aldo for the vacant title at UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi.

Initially the event was set to take place in Perth but it was moved to the famous Fight Island due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two fighters came out fast immediately and it became clear that it was going to be a tremendous fight. The Russian almost finished the fight in round one but Aldo was saved by the bell.

Despite Yan’s success in round one, the former featherweight champion turned it on in rounds two and three and began to dominate the exchanges.

But then in round four, Yan once again took over in the fight and dominated the Brazilian, hurting him on several occasions. And in round five, he finally got the finish when he dropped Aldo with an uppercut and subsequently finished the fight with ground-and-pound.

UFC 251 did over 1 million PPV buys making it the biggest outside of a Conor McGregor fight

Following Yan vs Aldo was a huge co-main event featherweight title rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.

And then in the main event, Kamaru Usman defended his welterweight title against Jorge Masvidal, completing a huge triple header of title fights.

With that, UFC 251 ended up being the UFC’s biggest ever event that wasn’t headlined by Conor McGregor, surpassing over 1 million PPV buys, making it one of the biggest events ever.

Just when it seemed as though the UFC heavyweight saga including Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall was over, things have once again been thrust into uncertainty.

After months and months of talks between Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones, UFC boss Dana White announced that the saga was over as Jones had officially retired from the sport.

Despite that, just a few weeks later Jones announced that he has re-entered the drug testing pool following an announcement from Donald Trump that he will host a UFC event on the grounds of the White House in 2026.

And with that, Jones revealed that he would fight whoever is the heavyweight champion come July 4, with Aspinall now standing as the undisputed champion.

Tom Aspinall confirms first UFC title defence is official as Jones is snubbed

However, although Jones is extremely keen to fight on the White House event, this past Saturday following UFC 318, White practically shut down any involvement from Jones, claiming that he cannot trust the former champion.

The UFC boss’ words came after he recently claimed that fans could see both Jones and Conor McGregor compete on the event, building up the hype.

White’s words didn’t sit well with Jones who expressed his disappointment a few hours later, stating that he will be ready for whatever comes next regardless.

And now just a day removed from White’s public snubbing of Jones, the British champion has confirmed that his first official title defence is confirmed after conversations with the UFC.

“Yes (my next fight is signed and locked in) it is. As far as signed, I can’t remember the last time that I physically signed a contract, they just ask me and I say yes and that’s it,” Aspinall told UFC on Eurosport.

“Usually I sign the contract on fight week, contracts actually don’t mean too much, the UFC ask you, you say yes, the verbal contract is all anybody needs from me,” he continued.

Aspinall thinks Alex Pereira’s team is hinting at a move to heavyweight

Although it is relatively unclear at this point who Aspinall will defend his title against, the most likely two contenders are Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov.

However, former UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has continued to tease a potential move up to heavyweight over the past few months, getting fans excited about that potential matchup.

“The guy and his team know what they’re doing on social media, they know how to make headlines which is good. I think as far as I’m aware, that’s quite normal for him and bigger light heavyweights to get up to 240-250lbs… Maybe he’s teasing it,” Aspinall continued.

Retired UFC star Josh Thomson has an issue with two of the judges after UFC 318.

The only man who has knocked out Nate Diaz watched Dustin Poirier‘s retirement fight on Saturday night.

Josh Thomson agreed that Max Holloway’s unanimous decision win was well-deserved after the UFC 318 main event.

However, the 32-fight MMA veteran took issue with ‘Blessed’ winning the second round of the fight.

Josh Thomson calls for radical scoring system change

Max Holloway wobbled his long-time rival before battering him when the fight went to the floor.

The BMF champion spent a lot of time in mount, dropping nasty ground strikes as he dominated much of the second stanza.

With 15 seconds left in the round, Poirier turned the tables by scoring his own knockdown, jumping for a guillotine choke, and landing painful-looking elbows.

The horn sounded to end the round and potentially save Holloway, who wobbled back to his corner.

Two of the three cageside judges scored that round against Poirier, despite an impressive recovery and late flurry.

Thomson disagrees with them so much that he’s called for a major change to the MMA scoring system.

‘The Punk’ believes who ends a round on top should be a deciding factor when scoring a fight.

“That’s how I would do a scoring system,” Thomson said on the ‘WEIGHING IN’ podcast he shares with the legendary referee John McCarthy, who disagreed with his take and laughed at the rule change suggestion.

“I put my credence on when it happened…The guy who got dropped early, and then weathers the storm, survives, and then comes back and wins the end of the round by dropping that person back, he should get more points for that.”

Dustin Poirier calls out UFC 318 judges

Poirier raised the same issue as Thomson during his post-fight press conference at UFC 318.

‘The Diamond’ thought his late success was enough to win him round two, so he was shocked to find out that only one of the judges gave it to him.

“Just being inside the eye of the storm, it felt a lot closer to me,” Poirier said.

“I really thought it might have been 2-2 going into the fifth [round]. Mike Brown checked the scorecards when we got to the locker room, and I think the judges gave me different rounds.

“I think the judges gave him the second round. I thought I almost had him out. He hurt me, too, but I thought my shot when I followed up with elbows, I was cracking him. He told me in the medical tent, ‘Hey, man, you had me out.’

“Being in the fight, it felt a lot closer than that. When I heard the judges’ [scores], I was like, ‘No way. It was closer than that.’”

Mark Pope and his staff are starting to circle their top recruits in the class of 2026, as the AAU season winds down. With players starting to schedule visits for the fall, the Kentucky Wildcats will continue to look to host several in the coming months.

One player has already been scheduled for a visit to Lexington, but now that has been pushed back a week.

According to Wyatt Huff of SI.com, five-star guard Caleb Holt has rescheduled his visit to Kentucky to September 12-14. His official visit was originally scheduled for September 5-7.

Holt, a 6-foot-5 and 200-pound guard out of Prolific Prep in Fort Lauderdale, is high on the staff’s big board as they look to maximize their spots available in the 2026 class. But with visits to Auburn and Alabama on the calendar as well, it will be a tough fight to pry him from Iron Bowl territory.

However, the Cats keeping a visit on the board is important. Hopefully, it will turn into some great news for the Cats in the next few months, as Holt would be a great addition to Pope’s offense and address the apparent roster needs that will be open on the 2026-27 roster at this point.

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