UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis has no doubt that he will be able to match the physical prowess of Khamzat Chimaev. The Chechen ‘Borz’ and his inhuman strength have been one for ages. Chimaev is also infamous for his explosive bursts and wrestle-heavy lean-ins. But the South African fighter is ready for it.
Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) turned his attention to Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) after the pay-per-view (PPV) co-main bill at UFC 308. the unbeaten contender ran through Robert Whittaker for a first-round submission at UFC 308. The Checheneya man tore his jaw open and knocked a few digits back with a face-crank submission. However, Du Plessis isn’t humbling down to his takedowns. According to DDP, it’ll be on the lines of ‘absolute chaos’!
It’s going to be absolute chaos… I don’t see him coming in with a different game plan and me neither. I’m going out there to attack. I’m going there to kill him. I’m not going out. I’m not going out there to defend takedowns
Dricus Du Plessis to Denis Shkuratov for the ‘Submission Radio’ Show for SBNation Network (🎥: @SubmissionRadio on YT)
In the UFC 308 post-fight news conference, MMA Junkie scrum posed a question to Khamzat Chimaev about Du Plessis’ grappling, He immediately scoffed it off – but the 185-pound champ issued him a fair warning. Du Plessis is wildly violent finding that gap in range. He can even similarly answer with takedowns and break pace or change levels. So DDP isn’t really fretting about the rival’s supposed explosiveness.
“It’s going to be absolute chaos… I don’t see him coming in with a different game plan and me neither. I’m going out there to attack. I’m going there to kill him. I’m not going out. I’m not going out there to defend takedowns.” ⚔️⚔️⚔️
Dricus Du Plessis isn’t going to be taking… pic.twitter.com/TmiRTsQd9r
— Submission Radio (@SubmissionRadio) November 7, 2024
‘Stilknocks’ thus offers primal aggression against the like of Khamzat Chimaev. He also gratified his decision of pivoting to Chimaev over a Sean Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) rematch due to the ‘undefeated’ part. Du Plessis claimed the 185-pound gold by edging out Strickland at the UFC 297 PPV. If he gets past ‘Borz’, he thinks it makes a case for warranting a double title fight. To that end, he is keeping chaotic intentions about Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira as well.
Dricus Du Plessis confident of power in potential Alex Pereira clash
Dricus Du Plessis wouldn’t be afraid to stand up to Alex Pereira in a fight. DDP hopes to get a crack at light heavyweight champion Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) in the near future. After Khamzat Chimaev or a possible Strickland title rematch billing, Pereira is the main man – his way to dual division glory or prime pay-per-view (PPV) spotlight at 185. Alex Pereira and his domination throughout dual divisions have been unable to stop. He has run through multiple former champions.
The scope of beating stonehand Pereira is like defeating G.O.A.T. Jon Jones. Pereira has already surpassed “Bones” in Pound-for-pound listings and search profiles for Sportsnet/USAToday/SBNation Network, and so on. Although from Brazil, he is more widely popular on ESPN sitemaps like ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, and ESPN Deportes. So Du Plessis won’t ever so no to it.
Du Plessis insists that power will not be an issue, but concedes that the range will probably be. The Team CIT Performance Institute fighter recently overcame range against Pereira’s oldest enemy, Israel Adesanya. Izzy is a master of spatial control. Hence, he thinks he can do the best with ‘Poatan’ and catch him:
I’m not fighting a kickboxing fight, …I’m fighting an MMA fight, and a kickboxing fight, you need to be able to land combos… Now, I said it with Izzy. He said I’m too slow. I wouldn’t be able to catch him. Well, yeah. Like, I made a post yesterday saying maybe it’s not pretty, but damn, it’s effective because I will catch you eventually
Dricus Du Plessis further said to Denis Shkuratov for the ‘Submission Radio’ Show
Du Plessis respects Pereira and wouldn’t blame him if he decided to retire before getting a chance to fight him. But after watching him against Khalil Rountree – a violent TKO in the fourth round at UFC 307 – the South African believes that Pereira can be beaten. It’s what he bills similarly for ‘Borz’ after UFC 308. Crisp striking vs crisp striking. Takedown vs. takedown, he can do it all.
