The UFC middleweight title won’t be contested during UFC 290, but the division will be focused on T-Mobile Arena on July 8, as the identity of the next challenger to Israel Adesanya’s crown will be decided.
Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will take on rising contender Dricus Du Plessis in a title eliminator on the main card in Las Vegas in a battle between traditional sporting rivals Australia and South Africa.
Whittaker has been at the top of the UFC’s middleweight mountain and is focused on regaining his title, and exacting revenge, by defeating Adesanya at the third time of asking. Du Plessis, meanwhile, has blasted his way up the division and stands one win away from a fight with Adesanya, and the culmination of a growing rivalry between the pair.
Ahead of the bout, the UFC’s Countdown cameras caught up with both fighters, and their teams, as they made their final preparations for their pivotal matchup. Check it out via the video player below.