Dricus Du Plessis is not concerned about his middleweight title opponent on Saturday, August 16th.
The South African has become one of the UFC’s most dominant champions, dispatching Sean Strickland and modern great Israel Adesanya in his last two fights.
He does have a contrasting challenge in the exceptional wrestling ability of Khamzat Chimaev, and how he will perform across the five championship rounds is a major unknown heading into the bout.
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According to Rampage Jackson, he is an ‘animal‘ in training and is looking to use his improved cardio from his recent gym sessions to full advantage.
Dricus Du Plessis doesn’t believe Khamzat Chimaev is ‘different’ from past opponents
‘Stillknocks’ is favoured over the distance compared to his opponent because of his championship rounds experience, even if he appears deceptively tired during rounds.
His nine-fight tear through the division has seen him dispatch different contenders, from former MMA star Darren Till to Robert Whittaker, and he believes this fight is no different from the rest.
Speaking to SHAK MMA, the middleweight champion was blunt when asked about what he expects from the Russian when they face off in the Octagon.
He said: “At the end of the day, he hasn’t been on the ground with me either, he hasn’t been in a standup exchange with me either. The way he does things is the way that it should be done 100%. From a wrestling grappling perspective, he does not do something that hasn’t been seen before.
“I don’t think there’s been a lot of guys that do it the way I do it. And when it comes to pure wrestling and pure grappling, of course, Khamzat is amazing, but this is different.”
These claims about ‘The Wolf’s’ style have been made by the Dricus camp even when the fight was announced and was reaffirmed by his coach, who called Khamzat ‘one-dimensional’.
Since making his professional MMA debut in 2013, the experience of the 31-year-old means he knows when the best time is to jump on his opponents and secure a finish.
“I’ll just know when it happens, and I have known that. Every guy that I’ve fought, I’ve seen when it happens. You can feel it,” Du Plessis said.
“You can see some tells when you look at the body language. But you sense it like a predator senses its prey is weak. You just sense it. You can see it in the aura.”
Dricus Du Plessis gives his odds on if Robert Whittaker will ever have another UFC title shot
Former Dricus opponent Whittaker recently lost a razor-close split decision to Reinier de Ridder, ending any hopes of a rematch against the champion.
An ex-middleweight champion himself, ‘The Reaper’ last fought for the belt in 2022 against Adesanya, and in the opinion of Du Plessis, it may have been his last title bout
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Continuing in his interview, he was asked about the chances of the Australian challenging for the belt again.
He said: “I’m going to go under. Love him. Love Rob. Massive fan and awesome guy. I just don’t think I see that happening.”
The loss to de Ridder has knocked him out of the top five positions for the first time in eight years, and while not confirmed, it may have been his last MMA bout.