The UFC made superstars out of Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Ronda Rousey.
MMA’s premier promotion has seriously struggled to fill the void left by their departures from the sport.
Conor McGregor wants to make a comeback, but his UFC career is virtually over at this point.
Just three active fighters are capable of replacing him as the face of MMA after amassing a huge amount of social media followers.
Khamzat Chimaev enters three-man UFC club
Khamzat Chimaev is gearing up for his first UFC title fight against Dricus du Plessis.
They’ll square off for middleweight gold at UFC 319, which will take place in Chicago’s United Center on Saturday night.
Fans are clearly taken by the 14-0 Russian phenom, as they have been heading to his Instagram page in droves.
Chimaev just hit 10 million followers days before a single punch has been thrown at UFC 319. In doing so, he joins an exclusive three-man club of active UFC fighters with eight-figure followers on the platform.
Islam Makhachev boasts 10.7 million followers after enjoying a historically dominant run at lightweight.
However, he is outdone by the man who claimed his old 155lb title by knocking out Charles Oliveria at UFC 317 in June.
Pound-for-pound number one Ilia Topuria appears to be the biggest star on the roster, having amassed 11.5 million followers on Instagram.
Chimaev could move ahead of him if he dethrones Du Plessis in impressive fashion at UFC 319.
Israel Adesanya predicts UFC 319
Israel Adesanya believes Khamzat Chimaev’s reputation will take a big hit this weekend.
The former two-time UFC middleweight champion knows what it’s like to fight Dricus du Plessis.
‘Stylebender’ did well before suffering a fourth-round submission defeat to the current 185lb king at UFC 305 in August 2024.
Adesanya predicts ‘deep waters’ will be the difference when ‘DDP’ squares off against Chimaev.
“I look at this fight two ways: Khamzat comes out, gets a hold of DDP, and just drags him into deep water in the first or second, and finishes him,” he said in his UFC 319 prediction video.
“Or DDP matches his crazy, Khamzat’s crazy with his type of crazy and his willingness to not quit, and then drags Khamzat into deep waters in the third, fourth, or fifth round and gets him out of there. That’s how I see this fight going.
“Khamzat showed his hand, he’s going to go after him from the get-go. But I think ‘DDP’ will weather the storm, and probably finish Khamzat later on, because Khamzat, if it gets to Rounds 3, 4, 5, it’s going to be a problem. I say Round 3 or 4, ‘DDP’. But if Khamzat is going to win, it’s going to be in the first round, spectacular and violent. I’ll go with ‘DDP’.
“The UFC probably wants Khamzat to be champion because he’s a guy that brings a lot of eyes, says it and gets it done type s—… He’ll get it done. He’s just stubborn. Dricus by late TKO.”