Muddled UFC middleweight picture

UFC Louisville might actually have title relevance

This weekend marks the return of Jared Cannonier from a torn ACL in the main event of UFC Louisville against Nassourdine Imavov. The event hasn’t been getting a lot of hype, but it could have some major implications on the middleweight title picture.

The keyword in there is could, given the UFC would much rather see Dricus Du Plessis perform his first middleweight title defense against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in Perth Australia.

However, we all know what happens to the best laid plans of mice and men.

It’s a bit convoluted how this contest might play into that picture, but let’s get into it.

While he isn’t the first UFC champion born in Africa, Du Plessis is the first UFC champion who makes his training camp out of the continent. Adesanya hasn’t taken too kindly to Du Plessis’ claim that he isn’t a real African champion given Adesanya and his family immigrated to New Zealand when Adesanya was 10.

Gotta go thru the paywall to see how Dayne handles the Adesanya vs DDP promo language. - Nate