UFC 319 Main Card Set With High-Stakes Featherweight Co-Main Event

The TBD vs. TBD slot on the upcoming UFC 319 fight card has been filled. During Saturday’s UFC Abu Dhabi fight card, the UFC announced that high-profile UFC free agent signing Aaron Pico would face the undefeated Lerone Murphy in the co-main event of the UFC 319 pay-per-view card. UFC 319, which features a main event title fight between middleweight champ Dricus du Plessis and the unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev takes place on Saturday, August 16. The United Center in Chicago plays host to the UFC 319 PPV fight card.

The UFC has not held a fight card in Chicago since 2019. The UFC 319 main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN, and early prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass.

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UFC 319 Pay-Per-View Card Officially Announced

Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev – For Du Plessis’s UFC middleweight title

Lerone Murphy vs. Aaron Pico – Featherweight

Geoff Neal vs. Carlos Prates – Welterweight

Jared Cannonier vs. Michael Page – Middleweight

Tim Elliott vs. Kai Asakura – Flyweight

Other UFC 319 Fights Officially Announced

King Green vs. Diego Ferreira – Lightweight

Gerald Meerschaert vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk – Middleweight

Jessica Andrade vs. Loopy Godinez – Women’s Strawweight

Chase Hooper vs. Alexander Hernandez – Lightweight

Edson Barboza vs. Drakkar Klose – Lightweight

Bryan Battle vs. Nursulton Ruziboev – Middleweight

Karine Silva vs. JJ Aldrich – Women’s Flyweight

*The full UFC 319 fight card has not been officially released by the UFC.

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UFC 319 Main Event: Dricus du Plessis Vs. Khamzat Chimaev

Dricus du Plessis (23-2) joined the UFC in October 2020 as a 26-year-old with a 14-2 record. Before he joined the UFC, Du Plessis had won titles with KSW and EFC. He made his debut against Markus Perez on the main card of a UFC Fight Night event in Abu Dhabi. Du Plessis knocked out Perez in the first round. He followed that win with a July 2021 “Performance of the Night” KO win of Trevin Giles.

Those two wins earned him a shot against the ranked veteran Brad Tavares. Du Plessis won that scrap via decision. The victory put him in the top 15 of the division. A December 2022 submission win over Darren Till moved Du Plessis to No. 10 in the division. A TKO win over the No. 5 ranked Derek Brunson followed.

Du Plessis, who was working his way up the rankings, faced a tough test in his next outing when he met the No. 2 ranked Robert Whittaker at UFC 290. Du Plessis continued his rise, knocking out the former UFC champion in the UFC middleweight title eliminator and earning another “Performance of the Night” bonus.

More important than the bonus was the title shot Du Plessis received for that win. He faced then-champion Sean Strickland in January, taking the title from Strickland in a “Fight of the Night” bonus-winning scrap

In his first title defense Du Plessis picked up an August 2024 submission win over former UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya.

Du Plessis most recently faced Strickland in a rematch at UFC 312 in early February of this year. Du Plessis won that contest via unanimous decision.

I wrote of the champ after that fight, “Dricus du Plessis looked much more controlled and less reckless at UFC 312 than in many of his previous battles. He mixed up his striking techniques and targets against Sean Strickland, landed the more powerful blows, and didn’t put himself in too many awkward positions.

“Du Plessis did a much better job in his UFC 312 rematch against Strickland in shutting down his foe’s offense. In the first fight, Strickland landed 173 of 408 significant strikes. While in the rematch, Strickland was held to 128 landed strikes on 263 attempts. Meanwhile, Du Plessis increased his landed strikes and landing percentage from the first fight to the second. In the first battle, Du Plessis landed 137 of 354 attempts for a landing rate of 38 percent. At UFC 312, the champ landed 147 of 314 attempts for a striking rate of 46 percent.

“Du Plessis has defended the UFC middleweight crown twice while going 9-0 in the UFC. Despite his winning ways, the champ remains a bit of an enigma because his style shouldn’t work — but it does.”

Chimaev (14-0) is the No. 3 fighter in the official UFC middleweight rankings. The 30-year-old made his UFC debut in July 2020 with a second-round submission win over John Phillips. He followed that victory with a first-round TKO over Rhys McKee 10 days later, breaking the UFC record for the quickest turnaround between UFC wins in the modern era. Then, in September, Chimaev knocked out Gerald Meerschaert.

Things slowed down for Chimaev after that. He was booked to face Leon Edwards in December 2020, but that matchup never came to be despite multiple attempts to make the fight happen. The reason behind the numerous cancellations of Edwards vs. Chimaev was COVID-19.

When Chimaev finally returned to the Octagon in October 2021, he made short work of Li Jingliang, scoring a submission at 3:16 of Round 1.

In his next bout, Chimaev went the distance for the first time in his career, picking up a victory over Gilbert Burns. He followed that with a submission over Kevin Holland.

A break of more than a year followed that victory. Chimaev’s next outing was an October 2023 matchup against Kamaru Usman, a fight that Chimaev won via decision.

A year after that, Chimaev made short work of Robert Whittaker, defeating the ex-UFC middleweight champ via submission (face crank) in the first round of their UFC 308 scrap.

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UFC 319 Co-Main Event: Lerone Murphy Vs. Aaron Pico

Lerone Murphy (16-0-1) opened his UFC career with a 2019 draw against Zubaira Tukhugov. Since then, the 34 year old has done nothing but win. Murphy has gone 8-0 with the UFC since that draw, most recently beating former UFC interim title challenger Josh Emmett by decision. Before that April 2025 victory, Murphy picked up wins over Edson Barboza and Dan Ige.

Murphy is the No. 6 ranked fighter in the official UFC 145-pound division.

Aaron Pico (13-4) joined the UFC as a free agent earlier this year. Pico was with Bellator for his entire MMA career before departing as a free agent. The 28-year-old had an up-and-down run with the promotion, but he enters UFC Abu Dhabi on a three-fight winning streak. His record in his past 10 fights is 9-1. His only loss during that span, which dates back to January 2020, is a October 2022 TKO loss to Jeremy Kennedy in a fighter were the doctor stopped the bout because Pico dislocated his shoulder.

When announcing the initial UFC 319 co-main event of Movsar Evloev vs. Pico, UFC CEO Dana White called Pico, “the guy most people consider to be the top free agent in the world.”

White added, “Aaron Pico is a ridiculously violent striker and a very high-level grappler. Pico has had hype behind him since he was a teenager because of his skill and fighting style, which people compare him to the likes of Justin Gaethje or Dustin Poirier.”

The Pico vs. Evloev fight fell apart in mid-July when Evloev was pulled from the card due to illness.

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UFC 319 Fight Card Location:

United Center in Chicago, IL

UFC 319 Date:

Saturday, August 16

UFC 319 Time:

Main Card: 10:00 p.m. ET

Preliminary Card: 8:00 p.m. ET

Early Prelims: 6:00 p.m. ET

We will have more on UFC 319, including the official announcement of the UFC 319 co-main event, as fight night nears.