Robert Whittaker vs. Dricus Du Plessis Among Three New Fights Added To UFC 290
A middleweight showdown between Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis is among the three new fights added to UFC 290.
UFC 290 takes place on July 8 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card is headlined by the UFC featherweight title unification bout between champion Alexander Volkanovski and interim champion Yair Rodriguez. As well, the co-main event sees UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno defending his title against rival Alexander Pantoja.
On Friday night, the UFC beefed up the card as three new fights were announced, including a No. 1 contender fight at middleweight between Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis. UFC president Dana White confirmed that the winner of this fight will fight UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya later this year on a card in Sydney, Australia.
#UFC290 just became even ๐ด๐ถ๐น๐ฌ ๐บ๐ป๐จ๐ช๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐คฉ
๐ข @RobWhittakerMMA vs @DricusDuPlessis
๐ข @Ruthless_RL vs @NikoHybridPrice
๐ข @JalinTurner vs @DanTheHangman[ Sat. Jul 8 | @TMobileArena | #UFCFightWeek ] pic.twitter.com/61HPCfnVt1
— UFC (@ufc) April 21, 2023
In addition to the Whittaker vs. Du Plessis fight, two other fights are now official for UFC 290. At welterweight, former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler fights Niko Price. Both men are known as brawlers, so this should be an amazing fight for the fans. On top of that, a lightweight bout between top-15 contenders Jalin Turner and Dan Hooker was also added to this card. This fight was supposed to happen earlier this year but Hooker was forced out due to injury. Turner fought Mateusz Gamrot instead and lost a close decision.
The UFC 290 card is looking stacked at the moment, although it won’t feature the return of UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who was originally intended to fight former champion Stipe Miocic on this card. Instead, White has said that the Jones vs. Miocic fight is being targeted for later this year, so UFC 290 won’t be getting that heavyweight fight. Still, the card is shaping up very nicely and it should be one of the best PPVs of the year.
What do you think of the UFC 290 card overall at this point?
