UFC president Dana White has announced a No. 1 contender bout in the middleweight division between former champ [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] and [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag].
White revealed on Friday that Whittaker (24-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) and Du Plessis (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) have agreed to clash at UFC 290 on July 8, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The winner will be awarded a championship bout against Israel Adesanya.
“The winner of that fight will fight Adesanya later this year,” White said in a video posted to Twitter. “And that fight is targeted for Sydney, Australia.”
Whittaker, No. 3 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie middleweight rankings, will attempt to secure a third opportunity to face Adesanya after losing the first two matchups between them. He is coming off a unanimous decision win over Marvin Vettori in September, and can punch his ticket to another title shot during International Fight Week.
No. 8-ranked Du Plessis, meanwhile, will seek his first UFC championship opportunity after a strong start to his promotional tenure, winning all five of his appearances thus far and beating notables such as Derek Brunson and Darren Till. The South African has recently entered into a spat with Adesanya, and if he can win, there will be a title fight with much bad blood.
The latest UFC 290 lineup now includes:
- Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez – for featherweight title
- Brandon Moreno vs. Alexandre Pantoja – for flyweight title
- Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Manel Kape
- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Robert Whittaker
- Robbie Lawler vs. Niko Price
- Dan Hooker vs. Jalin Turner
- Tresean Gore vs. Bo Nickal
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.