UFC 319: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev Prediction for Tomorrow, 08/17/25

The Main Event at UFC 319 will see Dricus Du Plessis take on Khamzat Chimaev. This will be a fight in the UFC Middleweight division and will be for the UFC Middleweight division title. Du Plessis enters this fight with an MMA record of 23-2 and 9-0 in the UFC. He is averaging 6.12 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 48%. Du Plessis is absorbing 4.90 strikes and has a striking defense of 54%. His grappling has also been elite in the UFC, averaging 2.55 takedowns every 15 minutes. He has a takedown accuracy of 50% and a takedown defense of 50%.

Chimaev enters this fight with an MMA record of 14-0 and 8-0 in the UFC. He averages 5.36 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 58%. Chimaev absorbs 3.25 strikes and has a striking defense of 41%. Chimaev also has elite grappling, averaging 4.31 takedowns every 15 minutes and 2.8 submission attempts during the same period. He has a takedown accuracy of 47% and a takedown defense of 100%.

Chimaev is the heavy favorite in this fight, despite not being the current title holder. Because of this, we will be targeting this fight to go over 1.5 rounds. Du Plessis has seen 6 of his last 7 UFC fights go over 1.5 rounds, while Chimaev has seen 2 of his last 4 UFC fights do the same. Because of this, backing over 1.5 rounds will be our lean.