Dana White announced three championship fights for 2024

The first quarter of next year is already beginning to emerge as promising for fans of the MMA organization UFC. The president of the fight circuit, Dana White, said on Monday that three championship fights will take place in the first quarter of 2024. In January in Toronto, the UFC's new middleweight champion, Shawn Strickland, will make the first defense of his belt. He will face South African Draykus Du Plessis in the main event at UFC 297. Recall that Strickland won his title with a shocking decisive victory over former divisional hegemon Israel Adesanya.

Du Plessis has six wins in six UFC fights. In his last meeting, he rejected the former 84-kilogram champion Robert Whittaker. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will return to the cage at UFC 298 in February. He will face the rising fighter Iliya Topuria. The latter has 14 wins in 14 professional bouts. Volkanovski was knocked out by Islam Makhachev in his last appearance in the Octagon less than a month ago. However, he is set to defend his title for the sixth time in February, 2024.

In the lower division up to 62 kilograms, Sean O'Malley will defend his belt for the first time in a rematch against Marlon Vera. In the lower division up to 62 kilograms, Sean O'Malley will defend his belt for the first time in a rematch against Marlon Vera. In the first fight between the two, Vera prevailed by TKO in the first round, but the victory was more the result of an injury O'Malley suffered early in the bout. The latter knocked out Aljamaine Sterling in August to capture the bantamweight title. Vera has five wins in their last seven matches.