If Dricus Du Plessis can add Khamzat Chimaev’s name to his resume, he’s expecting big things.
Middleweight champion Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) was angling to run things back with Sean Strickland for his next title defense, but after Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) ran through Robert Whittaker for a first-round submission this past Saturday at UFC 308, he’s now interested in undefeated “Borz.”
With his past three wins coming over Whittaker, Strickland and Israel Adesanya, Du Plessis thinks handing Chimaev his first career loss should set him up for a shot at the light heavyweight title – preferably in his home country of South Africa.
“If I beat Khamzat Chimaev – I beat Robert Whittaker, then I beat Sean Strickland, then I beat Israel Adesanya, then I beat Khamzat Chimaev, that warrants a double title fight,” Du Plessis told ESPN. “And I think that might just be it. I have a vision, and I can’t picture something more perfect than that.
“But to be completely honest, I do not care who it is. South Africa would go crazy no matter who I fight. … At the end of the day, there’s a goal that needs to be reached, and that is fighting in my home country and getting that second belt. To do those on the same night, that would be pretty sweet.”
Du Plessis clarifies he’ll fight whoever the UFC offers, but after Chimaev’s impressive finish of Whittaker, the champion says that’s who the fans are clamouring for him to fight.
“The conversations were more about me fighting Strickland,” Du Plessis said. “But there was a very big reason no contracts have been signed, and I’m saying this as an opinion: I agreed – I said I’ll fight Strickland, perfect, and that’s the fight the fans want.
“But if you go on what the fans want right now, it’s definitely not the Strickland fight. If you ask what I want, I want to fight the best guy. I want to fight the guy the fans want me to fight, and that 100 percent is Khamzat. If they give me the Strickland fight, great, I’ll fight Strickland in February, March or whenever, and then fight Khamzat.”
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