UFC Mailbag: Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev, the BMF title legacy

It’s been quite a fews week over here at MMA Fighting. We had back-to-back APEX cards plus a little site redesign! With that redesign came a few things, including The Feed, our own personal octagon to chat about stuff in. As a result, we pushed the mailbag back a couple days so I could also include some Feed questions, and moving forward, I’ll put something there every week so I can answer all your pressing issues.

Now, on that note, let’s get to this week’s column.

“If DDP gets past Khamzat Chimaev next weekend, who realistically takes the belt from DDP?”

Nobody. Not for some time, at least.

As one of the earliest adopters of Dricus du Plessis, I have and will continue to support my boy as he works his way up the middleweight all-time rankings. Is DDP a bit goofy at times? Yes. But that only makes me love him all the more. And his awkwardness does a bit to hide just how smart and capable he is in the cage.

DDP is probably the best active fighter right now when it comes to game plans. Every fight he enters with clear ideas about how to attack his opponents, and how to minimize their preferred offense. Just look at the rematch with Sean Strickland. Strickland came into the fight doing the same old thing, but DDP had it figured out. He smothered Strickland’s jab, took away the teep, and beat Strickland senseless.

And that makes DDP a real problem for anyone at middleweight, because most of the top of the division has a lot of film out there already. Anyone he steps in there with, “Stillknocks” is going to have smart ideas about fighting them, and while he’s not always the prettiest, DDP has a ton of physicality to back up his IQ, and well-rounded skills. He’s not an easy man to beat.

If someone is going to beat him, my guess is it’s Khamzat, a guy who is such an overwhelming force of nature that he may simply power through DDP’s plans. But I think not. My guess is Khamzat gets a little shook when he realizes he can’t simply overpower DDP, and the South African champion drowns him in the deep water as the fight goes on.

And if he does that, I don’t see who from this current crop is taking it. I would pick DDP over Nassourdine Imavov, Caio Borralho, and Reinier de Ridder. The only one I would have to really think about would be Anthony Hernandez, who is not as overall talented as DDP, but does bring superhuman cardio to the table. It’s possible “Fluffy” could Merab him.

“Why on Earth does the UFC keep booking Esteban Ribovics inside of the world’s most violent warehouse?”

“What MMA promotion would you recommend to watch? Aside from Cage Warriors and LFA, everything else seems a bit amateurish.”

I always tell people to watch Fight Circus (whenever they do put up shows, which is infrequent at this point), but the true answer is KSW and RIZIN.

RIZIN can be harder to watch because there is usually a huge time gap so you’ll have to stay up until, like, 5 a.m. East Coast time, but I still think it’s worth a gander. Their fights are usually decent and the production is good, plus it sort of feels like watching old Pride FCs. Not the same, but there’s some similar vibes.

Now, KSW for sure has those vibes. Basically every KSW show is an arena packed with people and they go HAM on proper production, making their events feel like spectacles in a way the UFC simply never attempts to do anymore. There are also a few extremely talented fighters in KSW, so if you’ve never seen a show, check one out.

“Throw 3 HWs from any period in MMA history into today’s UFC HW division to give it life.”

We’re picking Fedor Emelianenko, for sure. My best guess is that even Prime Fedor doesn’t win the title in the current heavyweight landscape because his prime was 20 years ago, and that’s a long time. The sport has come leaps and bounds since then (in part because of him), but I think he would still be shockingly successful given the situation.

Next, prime Daniel Cormier. I know Cormier had a very successful light heavyweight career, but he was always best at heavyweight and he passed up the peak years of his career there because his teammate Cain Velasquez was already in the weight class. Give me a real, extended DC heavyweight run.

Lastly, if we’re trying to add spice, it’s gotta be Brock Lesnar. Lesnar isn’t in the top 20 of all-time heavyweights but the man brought eyeballs and made events seem big. Plus, we could finally get him vs. DC.

“If Max defends the BMF belt again in the tough LW division, does it become sort of like a LW interim belt?”

I guess that’s one way to look at it, but I think the better way to look at it is like the Intercontinental Belt in WWE: It’s a secondary championship that still has meaning and people can care about, without guaranteeing a title shot or anything like that.

I know Max Holloway disagrees, and some fans might as well, but I simply do not care about a Max lightweight title run. He’s won his belt. It was great. We all loved it. And then he spent years trying to get it back and failed. Most recently, he got knocked out by the dude now holding the lightweight belt. So there’s no need to do that again. Max can end his title chase, because it would purely be the pursuit of a trinket, and he’s already got one of those!

If I was in Holloway’s corner, I would be encouraging him to focus his energies on not just defending the BMF belt, but establishing a real identity for it. A legacy that he can leave behind with it for the next champion to follow suit with. Long term, that’s honestly cooler than winning another title, and it’s something I think the sport really needs. It sucks that modern sports are basically championship or bust, and in the UFC, there are only 11 of those to go around. Having someone actually build up another title into some level of relevance would be a big help to the sport as a whole.

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer all the good ones! It doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.