Khamzat Chimaev is positioned as the early favorite to capture his inaugural UFC championship title.
Earlier this week, UFC CEO Dana White announced the highly anticipated matchup: Chimaev will challenge Dricus du Plessis for the UFC Middleweight title. This championship bout is set to headline UFC 319, scheduled for August 16th at the United Center in Chicago.
According to initial betting lines released by FanDuel, the challenger Chimaev opens with strong odds as a nearly two-to-one favorite at -194. The current middleweight champion, du Plessis, is listed as the underdog with comeback odds of +150.
Based on these odds, Chimaev has an implied probability of approximately 66 percent to win the fight. A wager of $100 on Chimaev would return a total of $151.55, while the same $100 bet placed on du Plessis would yield a larger return of $250 total.
Chimaev enters this title opportunity following what many consider his most impressive career performance. He secured a dominant first-round submission victory over former champion Robert Whittaker at the UFC 308 co-main event last October in Abu Dhabi. This marked “Borz`s” first appearance in over a year and only his third fight since September 2022, but the performance was enough to earn him this long-awaited shot at gold.
Meanwhile, Dricus du Plessis claimed the middleweight strap by defeating Sean Strickland via decision at UFC 297 in January 2024. According to the provided text, he has since defended his belt twice: first with a stoppage win against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 last August, followed by a lopsided decision win in a rematch with Strickland at UFC 312 in February.
