The UFC has already announced three title fights to kick off the first quarter of 2024.
Starting things off in January, UFC 297 in Toronto, Canada will be headlined by a middleweight championship fight between champ [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] and challenger [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag]. The fight will be Strickland’s first title defense after taking it from Israel Adesanya in a dominant display at UFC 293. Du Plessis is coming off a stoppage of former champ Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 and has won his last eight fights.
The following month, at a location and venue yet to be announced, [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] returns to featherweight to defend his title against an undefeated challenger in [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag]. Volkanovski is back to his division after a short-notice rematch against Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title. Topuria topped Josh Emmett in their main event tilt in June.
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In March, [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag]’s first bantamweight title defense will be a rematch against [autotag]Marlon Vera[/autotag]. O’Malley defeated Aljamain Sterling to become champion at UFC 292. Vera is coming off a unanimous decision win over Pedro Munhoz in August. “Sugar” and “Chito” first met at UFC 252 in 2020, where Vera won by TKO in the first round.
Did the promotion get these matchups right, or should these champions be facing other contenders? Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Mike Bohn, Nolan King and Brian “Goze” Garcia answered that question with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia.
You can watch their discussion in the video above and check out this week’s full episode on YouTube below.