Potential Middleweight Title Eliminator to Headline UFC Vancouver

Anthony Hernandez could earn a title shot with an impressive
showing at UFC Vancouver. | Getty/UFC

A clash of middleweight contenders is set to headline UFC
Vancouver in October. 

Reinier
de Ridder (21-2) will face Anthony
Hernandez (15-2)  in a five-round main event at UFC Fight
Night 262 on Oct. 18 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada. While announcing the fight, Dana White confirmed
that it is a potential middleweight title eliminator. However, the
UFC head honcho isn’t looking past the
UFC Paris headliner between top contenders Nassourdine
Imavov (16-4) and Caio
Borralho (17-1) next month.

“In the main event, it’s a five-round fight between middleweight
contenders Reinier
de Ridder and Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez. And obviously, next
month in Paris, we have another top middleweight contender fight
between No. 2-ranked Imavov and 7th-ranked Borralho. And Vancouver
is a few weeks later,” White said on social media. “We’ll see how
this whole thing plays out, and we’re gonna end up with a
middleweight challenger for Khamzat
Chimaev’s title that he just won. So these fights have massive
implications.”

Chimaev Awaits Results of Pivotal Middleweight Bouts

Chimaev dethroned Dricus Du
Plessis via a dominant unanimous decision at UFC 319 in Chicago
last weekend. While Imavov vs. Borralho was considered the original
title eliminator, Hernandez also rallied for a title shot against
“Borz”. Meanwhile, Chimaev called out de Ridder, who agreed to
challenge him at UFC 321 in October. However, Chimaev will likely
have to wait a while for his next title challenge as the next
contender will only be confirmed within the next couple of
months.