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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.
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“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.”
🚨 Dana White says the next challenger for Khamzat Chimaev‘s title could be either the winner of RDR vs Fluffy OR Imavov vs Borralho 👀
“We’ll see how this whole thing plays out, and we’re gonna end up with a middleweight challenger for Khamzat Chimaev‘s title…
These fights… pic.twitter.com/6hTwSMzs2k— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 19, 2025
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.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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