Khamzat Chimaev absolutely crushed Driscus du Plessis.
The UFC Middleweight Champion came in with a strong record. He was undefeated in UFC and had an impressive 11-fight winning streak by beating names such as Robert Whittaker, Sean Strickland, Israel Adesanya, but that didn’t matter on Saturday.
This was five rounds of Chimaev using his wrestling to dominate the former Middleweight Champion. It wasn't pretty or the most exciting thing to watch, but Khamzat had a gameplan and executed it flawlessly. He successfully landed 12 out of 17 takedowns and controlled Plessis for over 21 minutes. Chimaev had over 500 strikes! Plessis only had 45.
Du Plessis showed some life in the final round, but there was never a moment where Khamzat was in danger. Khamzat dismantled a man that was a really dominant champion before coming into UFC 319.
The co-main event didn’t go any better for Aaron Pico. The hot Bellator prospect was outclassed by Lerone Murphy. Pico started off fast with his strikes, but his night came to an end because of a spinning back elbow that got Murphy the knockout.
Check out the full results for UFC 319
Main Card results
- Middleweight championship: Khamzat Chimaev def. Dricus du Plessis by unanimous decision
- Featherweight: Lerone Murphy def. Aaron Pico by KO (spinning back elbow) at 3:21 of Round 1
- Welterweight: Carlos Prates def. Geoff Neal by KO (spinning back elbow) at 4:59 of Round 1
- Middleweight: Michael Page def. Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision
- Flyweight: Tim Elliott def. Kai Asakura by submission (guillotine) at 4:39 of Round 2
Prelims results
- Middleweight: Baisangur Susurkaev def. Eric Nolan by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:01 of Round 2
- Middleweight: Michal Oleksiejczuk def. Gerald Meerschaert by TKO (punches) at 3:03 of Round 1
- Women's strawweight: Loopy Godinez def. Jessica Andrade by unanimous decision
- Lightweight: Alex Hernandez def. Chase Hooper by TKO (punches) at 4:58 of Round 1
Early prelims results
- Lightweight: Drakkar Klose def. Edson Barboza by unanimous decision
- Women's flyweight: Karine Silva def. Dione Barbosa by unanimous decision
- Flyweight: Joseph Morales def. Alibi Idiris by submission (triangle choke) at 3:04 of Round 2