UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis has Sean Strickland to fend off at UFC 312, but there’s a wolf on the hunt. Khamzat Chimaev is next in line for a title shot and many are convinced he’ll win. Du Plessis is skeptical, and not strictly out of pride.
“I can beat Khamzat,” Du Plessis told CBS Sports ahead of Saturday’s pay-per-view in Sydney, Australia.
Chimaev (14-0) has thus far been an impossible puzzle to solve. UFC CEO Dana White dubbed Chimaev as a top contender after he viciously pushed Robert Whittaker’s front teeth out of alignment with a neck crank. Chimaev’s overwhelming wrestling game set up the brutal finish. It is Chimaev’s MO. The Chechen fighter has taken down all of his UFC opponents, excluding Gerald Meerschaert who he knocked out in 17 seconds. Most fighters train to avoid the inevitable, but Du Plessis welcomes it.
“Absolutely, he’ll be able to take me down. I hope so. Isn’t he some Swedish champion or something? I hope he can take me down,” Du Plessis said. “But then he has to deal with me on the ground and keep me there. Can I take Khamzat down? Absolutely. Am I going to take Khamzat down? Absolutely.”
Du Plessis claims Chimaev’s opponents have the wrong takeaways from Chimaev’s formidable grappling. Like a Chinese finger trap, the solution is not to pull away from the problem but instead lean into it.
“I think everyone has been moving backward trying to evade that takedown,” Du Plessis said. “No, no, no. I’m not scared of Khamzat’s wrestling. I’m not evading. I’m not trying to stay off the ground with Khamzat. That’s the mistake everyone makes. I’m going to fight Khamzat wherever the fight goes.”
Du Plessis’ game plan is not designed specifically for Chimaev. It’s the foundation of his mixed martial arts philosophy. Du Plessis compares fighting an elite wrestler like Chimaev and an elite striker like Adesanya. Du Plessis scored four takedowns against Adesanya, but he nearly equaled him in strikes landed as well. The champ believes that narrowing offense diminishes paths to victory.
“As soon as you think of an area where you don’t want the fight to go, you are limiting yourself,” Du Plessis said. “You are in a mental space when you get in that situation that you are losing the fight.
“It’s easier said than done. The man is incredibly good. Especially in those wrestling and grappling exchanges. But you can’t go out there fighting him and thinking, ‘I don’t want to be there.'”
Du Plessis concedes that Chimaev is incredible, but he’s not perfect. Chimaev’s majority decision win against Kamaru Usman outlined stamina issues. His Fight of the Night against Gilbert Burns suggested vulnerabilities in brawls. The champ believes he can exploit these weaknesses against his likely next challenger.
Check out the full interview with Dricus du Plessis below.
“We’ve seen him being as dominant as anyone can be in a first round,” Du Plessis said. “We’ve seen him being as exhausted as anyone can be in a third round.
“This is a five-rounder. Bring your first round. I am going to meet you in the middle and we are going to wrestle. We can wrestle in that first round the whole first round. And then we’ll come out in the second round and see what we feel like. You have around a minute left in that second round and then we’ll fight my fight. We will wrestle on my terms and then we’ll strike on my terms.”
Before Du Plessis vs. Chimaev can be realized, the South African champion must turn away Strickland at UFC 312.
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