Du Plessis won their first fight, taking a narrow split decision at UFC 297 to capture the championship. He followed up that victory by defeating Israel Adesanya by submission at UFC 304. Strickland bounced back from the defeat by taking a split decision win over Paulo Costa to position himself for a chance to regain the belt.

The main event will see Dricus du Plessis attempt to defend his middleweight belt for the second time when he and Sean Strickland square off in a rematch of their 2024 meeting. Strickland rebounded from losing his title with a split decision over former title challenger Paulo Costa at UFC 302,