{"id":650364,"date":"2026-05-05T23:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/650364\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T23:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:48:09","slug":"dricus-du-plessis-highlights-the-big-question-of-khamzat-chimaev-vs-sean-strickland-after-fighting-both-ufc-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/650364\/","title":{"rendered":"Dricus du Plessis highlights the ‘big question’ of Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland after fighting both UFC stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis raised eyebrows with his fight week breakdown of Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland.<\/p>\n

Former UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis knows a lot about UFC 328 headliners Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland ahead of their grudge match. After Chimaev defeated Du Plessis to win the UFC middleweight title last year at UFC 319<\/a>, he\u2019ll face the former titleholder Strickland in one of the biggest fights of 2026.<\/p>\n

While many are picking Chimaev to retain his title at UFC 328, many give Strickland a \u2018puncher\u2019s chance\u2019 to hand Chimaev his first setback inside the Octagon. Chimaev\u2019s grappling could get put to the ultimate test against Strickland\u2019s solid takedown defense.<\/p>\n

According to Du Plessis, if Strickland can survive the early storm, he has the strength and physical advantages to drown Chimaev and win their fight.<\/p>\n

Dricus du Plessis: Sean Strickland \u2018stronger, more physical\u2019 than Khamzat Chimaev<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with Fight Forecast<\/a>, Du Plessis broke down the UFC 328 main event between two of his former rivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first round is going to tell us so much about this fight. Khamzat is going to get Sean down. I\u2019ve taken Sean down so many times. But to keep him there? That\u2019s going to be the big question,\u201d Du Plessis said of Chimaev vs. Strickland.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Strickland\u2019s ability to get up, the technique he uses, the strength he has, is a lot stronger than Khamzat on a physical level. I think he\u2019s going to surprise some people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Strickland gets up 2, 3 times in the first round, it\u2019s not going to get easier with the sweat and the fatigue\u2026we\u2019ve seen Strickland\u2019s cardio, and once Khamzat has to fight Strickland\u2019s fight, I don\u2019t think he has much of a chance. Khamzat throws hard and kicks hard, but not scary hard, and he\u2019s a bit predictable. You can see the shots coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Du Plessis isn\u2019t the only notable UFC personality to give Strickland a legitimate chance to pull off the upset at UFC 328. Longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan<\/a> believes Strickland could dethrone Chimaev after watching his recent wins over Anthony Hernandez, Israel Adesanya, and Paulo Costa.<\/p>\n

What is your prediction for Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis raised eyebrows with his fight week breakdown of Khamzat Chimaev vs.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,17724,641,5899,638,35696,82,640,208767],"class_list":["post-650364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dricus-du-plessis","tag-fighting","tag-khamzat-chimaev","tag-mma","tag-sean-strickland","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-328"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}