One of the 185 pound competitors from UFC 318 has offered up his thoughts on the middleweight championship bout set to headline UFC 319 in the coming weeks. UFC 319 is headlined by middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis defending his crown against a surging title challenger in Khamzat Chimaev.

Appearing on Bowks Talking Bouts before his UFC 318 assignment took place, Robert Valentin covered several subjects in the pre-fight build to his clash with Ateba Gautier. When giving his thoughts on the machinations of the matchup between DDP and 'Borz', Valentin said,

"So I mean, this is one of the fights that is going to define the future of the middleweight division. I think Khamzat is a guy that could bring many new aspects to the division as being a champion. Just because of his entertainment value and also the way he fights. I mean Dricus du Plessis is obviously a very good athlete, great fighter, and also an honorable champion. But I'm just thinking in terms of value in the entertainment and what the fans want from the sport right now."

"If Khamzat is going to win and take the belt, that's a huge win for the fans as well. Because I think kind of the energy right now in the UFC is the people are demanding new, exciting champions and people that also fight to entertain, not just to win. In terms of that, I really hope that Khamzat is going to take the belt and give the fans an exciting performance and shake up the division again. Having a new champion is obviously always benefitting the whole division."

UFC 319 main event analysis cont.

Robert Valentin continued to break down this key championship bout in his given weight category as Valentin stated,

"In my opinion, if he becomes champion in the last maybe eight years, he'd be one of the most skilled champions in the middleweight division. Just because of his well rounded MMA game. His wrestling is obviously super dominant."