Dricus Du Plessis believes Khamzat Chimaev is not worthy of a title shot. And in case he manages to snatch the belt this coming weekend, the South African plans to have his first title defense against Israel Adesanya.
“Stillknocks” will challenge Sean Strickland for the middlweight on Saturday at UFC 297. The promotion originally announced the Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kamaru Usman, which was held last October, as the No. 1 contender’s fight. However, while the Russian won via majority decision, he suffered a hand injury, allowing Du Plessis to secure the title shot.
With just days away from possibly wearing the belt as the new champ, Du Plessis already has a plan for his next fight, saying it would be with “The Last Stylebender.” This would be opposed to what many believe would happen, especially with UFC’s earlier promise to “Borz.” The fighter, although still in recovery, recently issued a warning to Strickland, suggesting his confidence he’ll get the title shot in his return. Du Plessis, nonetheless, firmly believes this won’t be the case when he wins the title. For Du Plessis, Adesanya is the rightful challenger for him. The fighter then questioned Chimaev’s credentials for the middleweight belt by revisiting his past fights.
“As far as I know Khamzat’s a welterweight,” Du Plessis told MMA Junkie. “What middleweight did he fight? He fought at middleweight, but he fought a welterweight [Kamaru Usman]. Gerald Meerschaert? When was that? Was he even ranked? No, he wasn’t ranked. So, that makes absolutely no sense.”
“The UFC promised him a title fight? Where in the world does that happen? And he says now he’s fighting Strickland. No, you’re not. If there’s a champion, if you get a title shot, I’m the champion. You’re not going to get a title shot. And Israel Adesanya? That makes sense.”
Du Plessis’ view of Chimaev is not new in the division. In the past, other middleweight fighters, like Brendan Allen, also contradicted the promotion’s decision for Chimaev. Division champ Strickland also echoed the sentiment and expressed favor for Du Plessis over Chimaev, stressing the UFC rankings are now just about politics.
“Dricus is like, so awkward, he’s good,” Strickland said on his YouTube channel last November. “Where it’s like, you know, I’m a million times better than him. I spar guys he’s fought, I know who he is. But he’s so awkward, he’s good.
“It’s going to be a f*cking war. He’ll be a tougher fight than Chimaev. Chimaev, he doesn’t f*cking deserve it. We all know that. The only reason why Chimaev gets that shot is because he sells a lot of tickets. That’s it.”
“They’ve been doing a lot of f*ckery lately with rankings and bullsh*t,” said the middleweight champ. “Just f*cking wrong, man. We need to go back to a professional sport where rankings matter because as of now, rankings mean f*ck-all sh*t.”
