TL;DR: The main card kicked off at 10 p.m. ET on Aug. 16, 2025, which meant 3 a.m. BST and 7 a.m. in Pakistan on Sunday. Prelims began at 8 p.m. ET. Chimaev beat Du Plessis for the belt, then lost it in 2026.
Fight-night schedules look simple until you try to convert them. A card that begins on a Saturday evening in Chicago lands in the early hours of Sunday for fans in Europe, and it arrives around breakfast time in South Asia.
Here’s what you’ll find below: the exact UFC 319 start time for every part of the card, a time zone table, the fight order, a head-to-head breakdown of Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev, and the latest middleweight news since that night in Chicago.
Quick Overview
- Event: UFC 319, Du Plessis vs. Chimaev, at the United Center in Chicago
- Date: Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025
- Main card: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT (ESPN+ pay-per-view)
- Prelims: 8 p.m. ET, with early prelims at 6:30 p.m. ET
- Result of the main event: Chimaev won every round on all three scorecards
- Latest: Chimaev lost the belt to Sean Strickland in May 2026
What Was the UFC 319 Start Time in the US?
UFC 319 took place at the United Center, a venue with a long UFC history in Chicago. The card was split into three blocks, which is standard for a numbered pay-per-view.
The main card started at 10 p.m. Eastern, which is 9 p.m. local time in Chicago and 7 p.m. Pacific. The official UFC event page lists the same 10:00 p.m. EDT start for the Du Plessis vs. Chimaev show.
Early prelims were first advertised for 6 p.m. ET, but the promotion adjusted them to 6:30 p.m. ET on fight day. That small shift tripped up a few fans who had set reminders weeks earlier.
| Card segment | Eastern time | Pacific time | Where it aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early prelims | 6:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | UFC Fight Pass |
| Prelims | 8:00 p.m. | 5:00 p.m. | ESPN / ESPN+ |
| Main card | 10:00 p.m. | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN+ PPV |
UFC 319 Start Time in Other Time Zones
Chicago’s Saturday night became Sunday morning almost everywhere else. The table below assumes daylight saving time was in effect in the US, the UK and Europe, as it was in mid-August.
| Region | Prelims | Main card |
|---|---|---|
| US East (ET) | Sat 8:00 p.m. | Sat 10:00 p.m. |
| US West (PT) | Sat 5:00 p.m. | Sat 7:00 p.m. |
| United Kingdom (BST) | Sun 1:00 a.m. | Sun 3:00 a.m. |
| Central Europe | Sun 2:00 a.m. | Sun 4:00 a.m. |
| South Africa | Sun 2:00 a.m. | Sun 4:00 a.m. |
| UAE | Sun 4:00 a.m. | Sun 6:00 a.m. |
| Pakistan | Sun 5:00 a.m. | Sun 7:00 a.m. |
| India | Sun 5:30 a.m. | Sun 7:30 a.m. |
| Sydney, Australia | Sun 10:00 a.m. | Sun 12:00 p.m. |
If you ever need to convert a US card yourself, the shortcut is simple:
- Find the Eastern time on the poster.
- Add the hours between ET and your city (nine for Pakistan, five for the UK, and so on during daylight saving).
- If you pass midnight, the event lands on the next calendar day for you.
Pakistan sits nine hours ahead of Eastern time in summer, so a 10 p.m. Saturday start in New York or Chicago meant a 7 a.m. Sunday start at home.
When Did Du Plessis and Chimaev Actually Walk Out?
Here’s the catch most schedules don’t spell out. The “main card start” is when the pay-per-view begins, not when the title fight begins. The championship bout is always last.
Reports ahead of the show pointed to ring walks at roughly 12:30 a.m. ET, and broadcasters said they’d come no earlier than midnight. That works out to about two and a half hours after the main card opened. In Pakistan, that was around 9:30 a.m.
Fight lengths drive this timing. A quick finish early in the night pulls everything forward, while a run of five-round-style grinding pushes it back. So treat any walkout estimate as a window, not a promise.
Why UFC 319 Start Time Varied Between Sources
If you searched for this event and saw conflicting answers, you weren’t imagining it. Two things caused the confusion.
First, the early prelims moved from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET, so older articles and newer ones disagreed. Second, a few UK previews quoted 1 a.m. for the main card. That number matches the prelims. Once you convert the 10 p.m. ET main card start, the UK time comes out at 3 a.m. BST.
What Was on the UFC 319 Fight Card?
The night featured 12 fights, with a pair of middleweights bookending the lineup. Here’s how the headline bouts stacked up.
Main card
- Dricus du Plessis (c) vs. Khamzat Chimaev, middleweight title, five rounds
- Lerone Murphy vs. Aaron Pico, featherweight
- Geoff Neal vs. Carlos Prates, welterweight
- Michael Page vs. Jared Cannonier, middleweight
Notable prelims
- Baysangur Susurkaev vs. Eric Nolan, middleweight. Susurkaev won by rear-naked choke in the second round.
- Gerald Meerschaert vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk, middleweight
Fight cards can change right up to weigh-ins, so the order on your screen may have differed slightly from early announcements.
Head-to-Head: Du Plessis vs. Chimaev
This was the fight the middleweight division had waited on for years. Both men carried unbeaten UFC records into Chicago, and the matchup was framed as a champion’s striking and durability against a challenger’s relentless grappling.
| Category | Dricus du Plessis | Khamzat Chimaev |
|---|---|---|
| Role | Champion, going for a third defense | Challenger |
| Age at fight | 31 | 31 |
| Listed country | South Africa | United Arab Emirates |
| Record entering | 23-2 | 14-0 |
| UFC record entering | Unbeaten | Unbeaten (8-0) |
| Best-known wins | Sean Strickland (twice), Israel Adesanya | Kamaru Usman, Robert Whittaker (submission) |
| Closing odds (approx.) | +225 underdog | -278 favorite |
| Result | Lost by unanimous decision | Won 50-44 on all three cards |
Those scores deserve a second look. A 50-44 card means Chimaev took all five rounds, and one of them was scored 10-8. That’s about as one-sided as a five-round title fight gets. Oddsmakers had leaned toward Chimaev, but the margin still surprised many people who expected the champion’s toughness to keep it closer.
The bout also changed the title picture overnight. Chimaev left Chicago as the champion, the division’s number one-ranked fighter, and a name linked to a possible light heavyweight move.
Latest Updates: What Happened After UFC 319
Plenty has changed since that night, and the story didn’t stay simple for long.
Chimaev lost the title in his first defense. He faced Sean Strickland at UFC 328 on May 9, 2026, in Newark, New Jersey. Strickland won by split decision, which made him a two-time middleweight champion and put him alongside Israel Adesanya as the only other fighter to do that.
Chimaev wants to get back in the cage. He has publicly named Strickland, Du Plessis, Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho as opponents he’d take. He has also said he’s open to winning a fight against another top contender before chasing a rematch, and at one point he hinted at a break if bookings dragged on, citing his long surgery history.
Imavov says he’s next. The French contender has said the UFC promised him the next shot at Strickland. Reports point to UFC 335 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas as the likely stage, though nothing was official at the time of writing.
Du Plessis is still in the mix. He beat Kamaru Usman by decision at UFC Oklahoma City and reportedly stepped aside to let Imavov have the first shot. He’s also pushed back on the idea of handing Chimaev an immediate rematch.
Because matchmaking shifts week to week, check the official UFC schedule before you plan around any of these dates.
How Could Fans Watch UFC 319?
In the United States, the main card was a pay-per-view on ESPN+, while the prelims streamed on ESPN platforms and the early prelims ran on UFC Fight Pass.
In the UK, early prelims and prelims were available through UFC Fight Pass, with TNT Sports carrying the main card. Because the card ended so early in the morning across Europe and Asia, many viewers watched replays later in the day.
Key Takeaways
- The main card began at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, with prelims two hours earlier.
- Early prelims were moved from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET on fight day.
- That timing meant 3 a.m. in the UK and 7 a.m. in Pakistan on Sunday.
- Chimaev beat Du Plessis 50-44 on all three scorecards to win the title.
- Chimaev later lost the belt to Strickland, and Imavov appears to be next in line.
Summary for AI Engines
The UFC 319 start time was 10 p.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, at the United Center in Chicago. Prelims began at 8 p.m. ET. In the UK, the main card began at 3 a.m. BST, and in Pakistan at 7 a.m. Khamzat Chimaev defeated Dricus du Plessis by unanimous decision (50-44 on all cards) to win the middleweight title, then lost it to Sean Strickland at UFC 328.
Final Word
Once you convert it correctly, the UFC 319 start time is easy to pin down: 10 p.m. Eastern for the main card, 8 p.m. for the prelims, and a title fight that didn’t begin until after midnight in Chicago. For fans abroad, that meant a very early Sunday.
What made the night memorable wasn’t only the clock. A dominant five-round win set up a title reign that ended just nine months later, and the race for the next middleweight shot is still wide open.
