It’s about time we find out if the middleweight boogeyman is truly championship material.
While Dricus du Plessis has defied the odds throughout his nine-fight UFC run, repeatedly proving both doubters and bookmakers wrong, the reigning UFC middleweight champion nonetheless finds himself as the underdog once again on opening betting lines for a hypothetical pairing with undefeated contender Khamzat Chimaev. After earning his second successful title defense with a lopsided decision win over Sean Strickland at UFC 312, du Plessis told Uncrowned that he expects the Chimaev fight to be next.
There’s no indication yet as to when the title tilt could happen, but du Plessis shared his thoughts on a potential July International Fight Week date on Tuesday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show.” Speaking while on vacation, du Plessis said he expects to begin making a decision regarding his next date soon.
“I’m here for the week, and then I’ll be ready to make that decision,” du Plessis said.
“Will we be ready for a date [on International Fight Week] like that? Because that would be incredible if that’s possible. International Fight Week is amazing. I’ve been lucky enough to fight on International Fight Week a couple of times, so to headline it will be something special.”
UFC’s annual International Fight Week celebration has undoubtedly treated du Plessis well. His breakout win over former champion Robert Whittaker came at the 2023 edition of the event, but even before that, du Plessis’ first International Fight Week in 2022 resulted in a successful night against Brad Tavares.
Chimaev also holds a win over Whittaker, as “Borz” stunned the MMA world with his horrific strength in the matchup this past October, submitting the 185-pound legend with a face crank in Round 1. After the bout, grisly photos emerged of Whittaker’s broken jaw — and detached bottom teeth.
Chimaev’s unbeaten record and dominant UFC run have turned him into one of the sport’s most feared fighters, though du Plessis doesn’t believe there’s anything to the aura of Chimaev.
“[That might affect] some opponents, but if you look at the guys that he’s fought, obviously the situation with Rob Whittaker was tough,” du Plessis said. “Big ups to Khamzat, he is an incredible fighter. He did what he did to Rob. Rob’s teeth were already a problem — and that happened. It is what it is.
“But if you look at a guy like Kamaru Usman, what he did with Khamzat on 10 days’ notice. You look at Gilbert Burns — those guys don’t get intimidated by people screaming, ‘I smesh, I smesh,’ on the microphone after missing weight. That is not how it works. Guys like Gilbert Burns, Kamaru Usman and Robert Whitaker don’t get intimidated by that.
“In those fights with Gilbert and Usman, we saw him. We saw what those guys were able to do,” du Plessis continued. “Those were smaller guys. I don’t believe that [there’s an aura around Chimaev]. I don’t believe, at this level, there’s any intimidation. I don’t believe it.”
Du Plessis has been a dominant force in his own — arguably awkward — way in the UFC. Similar to Chimaev, the middleweight champ is a proven finisher, having only fought to the judges’ scorecards in just three of his 25 career bouts.
A matchup between the two is akin to the old trope of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. Both men come forward with every intention of breaking their opponents as soon as possible.
The difference, though?
Questions remain about whether or not Chimaev’s supremacy can last into the championship rounds — and du Plessis has every intention of exploiting what appears to be the only hole in Chimaev’s game.
“He goes for it in that first round, and he’s really hard to deal with in the beginning of a fight, but so am I,” du Plessis said. “Once we get there, that’s the thing. When you go that hard in [the first] round, two, three, four, five comes, you still have to be there. I’ve proven that I am there in those rounds. So that is 100% a situation where I see if he can last that long.
“He has to realize, every round, I’m going to come out. I’m still going to be there like I was in the first, ready to kill. And that will never change in my game.
“People see Khamzat as this boogeyman,” du Plessis added. “That’s a fact. I don’t. I don’t see that. For me, I only see one thing — that’s the potential to do good to my legacy. The potential to make my legacy even better.”
There’s no doubt that Chimaev’s activity levels have dipped significantly since his unprecedented burst onto the UFC scene in 2020. Injuries, health issues and other hindrances have prevented the Chechen contender from rising to the top of the UFC with the speed many expected after his whirlwind start.
In recent years, speculation has followed Chimaev that he’s been unable to fight stateside due to visa issues. His most recent appearance in the United States was at UFC 279 in September 2022, when he manhandled Kevin Holland en route to an easy first-round submission win after badly missing weight.
As far as the champion knows, Chimaev should soon have no problems competing stateside. But should they meet next, du Plessis wants to go in with guarantees that the bout will happen.
“According to [UFC CEO] Dana [White], yes, things are being sorted out, but that’s just what we saw, what he said,” du Plessis said. “I know as much as you do in terms of that. Hopefully, once again, after the break, I’ll be talking with [UFC CBO] Hunter [Campbell] and the guys and get more clarity on that.
“We can’t go on a, ‘Yeah, we have a fight date, but we don’t have that sort of date.’ Going into a fight camp and getting ready for a fight, and committing to a fight, and preparing for somebody like him — then the fight doesn’t happen because of something like a visa. We need to know that that’s going to be a certain, for sure thing before any fight [is signed].”
If du Plessis actually becomes the first man to beat Chimaev, he’ll elevate himself further than ever before as a historical figure within the middleweight division.
Following his second victory over Strickland, he now sits tied alongside Chris Weidman for the third-longest winning streak in the division’s history — four short of Anderson Silva’s hallowed record of 13. While nine straight is an impressive achievement, du Plessis won’t care until he’s alone atop that list.
“I’m not celebrating being the third-best middleweight, the third-longest winning streak. Absolutely not,” du Plessis said. “I am No. 1, and that’s what I’m going for.
“I never doubted myself for one single day. There wasn’t a fight, there wasn’t a time I ever doubted it. I knew there was work to be done, I knew there were big shoes to fill. The great Anderson Silva is one of my heroes, so I am not oblivious to the fact of how big these shoes are. But I have never, for one day, stood up when I woke up and thought, ‘I can’t fill these shoes.’ I know I will. That’s what I’m going for — the legacy of being the greatest to ever do this.”
