UFC 2024 Opening: Sean Strickland, Alexander Volkanovski, Sean O'Malley to Defend Titles against Dricus Du Plessis, Ilia Topuria, Marlon Vera

Title Defences Mark Start of 2024: Strickland Makes First Middleweight Title Defense against Du Plessis, Volkanovski Returns to Featherweight to Face Topuria, O'Malley Defends Bantamweight Crown in Rematch with Vera

• Sean Strickland will make his first middleweight title defense against Dricus Du Plessis in January 2024, Du Plessis was the fighter former champion Israel Adesanya wanted to fight to see which fighter better represented the continent, but Strickland unexpectedly defeated Adesanya in September.
• Alexander 'The Great' Volkanovski will defend his featherweight title against Ilia Topuria after returning to the featherweight after losing to Islam Makhachev for a second time at lightweight. Topuria's last fight against Josh Emmett showed him dominating the fight for 25 minutes.
• 'Suga' Sean O'Malley, will defend his bantamweight title in a rematch against Marlon 'Chito' Vera - Vera defeated O'Malley in 2020 before O'Malley went on a four-fight win streak and won the bantamweight title from 'Funkmaster' Aljamain Sterling.
• Volkanovski is planning his sixth featherweight title defense, coming off a knockout loss against Makhachev. Also, Topuria is unbeaten in his MMA career and ranks fifth in the UFC’s featherweight division.
• UFC 297, 298, and 299, where these fights will occur, have been scheduled for the first quarter of 2024, only UFC 297 has a confirmed date and location - January 20, 2024, in Toronto. The other two events are yet to announce locations or official dates.

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