By FCF Staff

In recent weeks, there’s been speculation that the UFC was planning to book a fight between middleweight champ Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev for its International Fight Week card. But, a new report is raising questions that will happen.

UFC 317 is set to take place on June 28th in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will cap off International Fight Week. Given the card is fast-approaching, the fact the headliner has yet to be announced has been noticed by many.

More recently, veteran combat sports journalist, Kevin Iole, reported he’s heard Du Plessis is injured. This prompted Iole to discuss what fight could headline UFC 317, if Du Plessis versus Chimaev isn’t a possibility.

For some time now, there’s been speculation the UFC wants to book a bout between former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria and lightweight champ, Islam Makhachev. But, Makhachev has repeatedly said he’s not overly interested in the match-up, given he’s defeated two-time featherweight champ, Alexander Volkanovski, twice.

Makhachev has also repeatedly said he’s interested in moving up to welterweight at some point. But, currently, his teammate Belal Muhammad holds the welterweight title. Muhammad is scheduled to fight Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315, May 10th.

Du Plessis (23-2), meanwhile, is coming off a unanimous decision win over Sean Strickland in February. The victory was the South African fighter’s second title defense.