UFC World Titles Up For Grabs In 2025
Alexandre Pantoja became the eleventh champion to successfully defend his UFC world title in 2024 when he submitted Kai Asakura in the main event at UFC 310 earlier this month.
There were nineteen UFC world title fights in total throughout the year and seven fighters got their hands on a championship belt for the very first time. With the year now drawing to a close, let’s look ahead at the three world title fights that are already set in stone for 2025.
Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland for UFC World Title at Middleweight
Dricus Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) has had an exceptional year. The South African dethroned Sean Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) at the top of the UFC middleweight division at UFC 297 back in January, in what was a contentious split decision victory.
“Stillknocks” resisted Strickland’s calls for an immediate rematch, and instead faced former long-time champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in August. While Adesanya began brightly in the main event in Perth, Western Australia, Du Plessis capitalized when Adesanya slowed later in the fight to snatch victory by way of a rear naked choke.
Many fans had expected Khamzat Chimaev to be next in line to challenge for the 185 lb belt given the brutal nature of his submission win over Robert Whittaker in Abu Dhabi in October, but a rematch between Du Plessis and Strickland has been scheduled to headline UFC 312 on February 8th, 2025.
Strickland returned to the win column at UFC 302 in June when he edged out Paulo Costa by way of split decision, but his performance failed to impress the current champion. ““Nothing’s changed, he looked boring like every other fight, walking forward jabbing and teeping – it wasn’t an exciting fight,” said Du Plessis recently while speaking to Fox Sports Australia. “It wasn’t a bad performance, it was the most normal performance from him ever”.
With Chimaev hovering in the background and Adesanya set to face no.5-ranked contender Nassourdine Imavov in February, the top of the middleweight division finally looks competitive after many years of utter dominance by “The Last Stylebender”.
Islam Makhachev vs. Armen Tsarukyan for UFC World Title at Lightweight
Another rematch will decide who emerges from the first pay-per-view event of 2025 wearing the lightweight title around their waste. Islam Makhachev (26-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) will square off against Armen Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) for the second time at UFC 311 on January 18th.
The pair first met in Tsarukyan’s UFC debut way back in April 2019, long before Makhachev became the champion at 155 lbs. Makhachev emerged victorious in a bout that Tsarukyan took on very short notice, and the challenger has been eager to point out how well he performed during those fifteen minutes.
“He’s not that good like people think,” Tsarukyan said while speaking to ESPN recently. “People think he’s unbeatable, like crazy wrestling, but like I took him down when I was 22 years old.”
The Armenian has won nine of his ten fights inside the Octagon since that first meeting and believes he possesses the necessary skills to topple Makhachev in the new year.
“First of all, I know how to wrestle very well,” Tsarukyan said. “Second, I’m young and hungry. I’ve never had the belt, so it drives me very well. I have a lot of energy for the trainings and I believe I’m the guy who’s going to beat him. But the most important thing is that I’m very hungry. I want that belt so much. It’s a dream. When I got in the UFC, I was thinking about that. I’ve been thinking about it for five years”.
Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov for UFC World Title at Bantamweight
New bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) will attempt to make the first defense of his newly acquired UFC world title when he faces Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in the co-main event at UFC 311.
Dvalishvili won the title when he dominated Sean O’Malley over five rounds at the UFC’s historic event at the Sphere earlier this year and seemed to be doing everything he could to talk down Nurmagomedov’s claims to get the next shot at the new champion.
After the matchup was finally announced, “The Machine” made the case that Nurmagomedov has been “gifted” the title shot without having picked up the requisite wins in the division to earn the opportunity…something the challenger’s cousin (former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov) disputes.
“I think when he [Merab] beginning his career, he was acting good. When he became champion, he cannot deal with this. Because life changing,” Khabib said at a recent press conference (via Red Corner MMA). “Before champion and after champion there is two life. You have to deal with this. About Umar [getting] gift – I think Umar deserve. I don’t know why Merab nervous… Umar here not because he is my cousin. He’s here because he’s 18-0 and 6-0 in the UFC. Umar wanna create his legacy. January 18, he will show why Merab nervous.”
