Du Plessis (23-2) is on a tear. The native of South Africa is on an 11-fight winning streak, defeating former middleweight champions Sean Strickland (twice), Israel Adesanya, and Robert Whittaker. A win over Chimaev would be his third successful title defense and continue his ascent towards pound-for-pound king status. Standing in the way is the guy most MMA observers feel is the best middleweight in the world. Chimaev (14-0) has plowed through the welterweight and middleweight ranks on his way to getting an opportunity to compete for UFC gold for the first time. Twelve of Chimaev's 14 wins have come inside the distance (six by KO, six via submission). The winner leaves the "Windy City" as the premier middleweight in the world.

Someone who will be watching closely is Michael "Venom" Page, who will take on No. 8-ranked Jared Cannonier on the UFC 319 main card. Since coming over from Bellator, Page (23-3) is 2-1 inside the Octagon after going 17-2 in Bellator with 11 of those wins coming via stoppage. However, matchmaking has proven to be difficult, as not many welterweights were willing to take him on this time around. Page had to move up to middleweight in his last bout, a unanimous decision win over Shara Magomedov in February. The same problem arose again, and Page is now campaigning for the second consecutive outing at 185 pounds. That would make one the boogeyman of a division but Page doesn't see it that way.

"I feel like the boogeyman is a bit more of the unknown trouble that seems like there's going to be trouble there," Page told DAZN News. "Whereas I'm known. I feel like I've got a reputation. I've sparred a lot of guys in the UFC. There are people in the gym who can tell you some horror stories about what I've done in the gym, and it's a very small world, so I understand it. Is it frustrating still? It's still frustrating. Obviously for me. I just want to go out there and be able to showcase it to the world, and not just have gym stories. I want to be out there and just putting on what I can do for the masses. So yeah, it is difficult, but we keep pushing."

A lot is on the line for the 38-year-old from the United Kingdom. A spectacular performance over a former world title challenger and someone ranked inside the top ten would vault Page into the UFC rankings and into the conversation for the du Plessis-Chimaev winner. First things first for Page in Cannonier before title conversation can begin.

"He's too experienced and too great an opponent for me to look past him," Page said. "Jared Cannonier has fought absolutely everybody. He's going to pack a massive punch on him. I have to give him all of his respect and give him all of my attention. Once I've achieved that, then I sit down and go, 'Ok, this is where we are now. Let's see where we can go from here. You know what I mean? But until this fight is done, all my attention's on him." 

If he emerges victorious over Cannonier, Page plans on getting cleaned up and watching the UFC 319 headliner. Many MMA pundits are picking Chimaev to wrest the title from du Plessis. While perplexed by the champion's fighting style, Page is going with the champion.

"So difficult," Page admits. "And I've been saying it, I feel disrespectful, but I've always kind of had a question mark over du Plessis. I don't get why he keeps winning stylistically. He seems like a very messy fighter. But he keeps winning and he seems to have a talent for being able to drag out a win. This will be the last time I bet against him if he wins this fight, I will never, I don't care who they put him up against. He could put him up against Jon Jones. They could put him up against Mike Tyson back in the day to reincarnate him, make an Android version. And I'm just never betting against him again. 

"He gets it done. He gets it done. So again, you can argue with his strategy and how he does it, but you can't argue with the results. So he's a person that gets results. So you've got to big him up and give him his flowers."