Dricus du Plessis thinks Belal Muhammad is perhaps barking up the unsuitable tree.
The UFC welterweight champion lately took a shot at the entire middleweight division, together with champion du Plessis, telling Barstool Chicago, “185 might be the best weight class — moreover Khamzat [Chimaev]. Once you have a look at that [UFC 312] primary occasion, you’re like, ‘Bro, Strickland and du Plessis suck.’”
Throughout an interview with The Ariel Helwani Show, du Plessis responded to Muhammad’s boast with a number of cracks of his personal.
“Belal Muhammad, I can’t even bear in mind the way in which he fights, I don’t know,” du Plessis stated. “Has he ever completed anybody? … I imply, I like how he acts as if he has a option to ever go as much as 185. The UFC won’t ever let him. If he wished to, he’d must abandon his belt, hand over his belt, vacate, and go as much as 185, and there’s no means they provide him a direct title shot. There’s no means. The UFC doesn’t even like Belal Muhammad.
“He hasn’t even defended his belt as soon as. He’s positively higher on Twitter than he’s when he fights; let’s simply say that.”
Regardless of du Plessis and Muhammad—presently No. 6 and No. 7 within the MMA Fighting Pound-for-Pound Rankings, respectively—dismissing one another as opponents, the 2 are each in the midst of dominant runs. Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland in a rematch at UFC 312 to document his second straight middleweight title protection and enhance to 9-0 within the UFC, whereas Muhammad has gone undefeated in 11 straight fights relationship again to 2019, capped off by a one-sided determination win over Leon Edwards at UFC 304 this previous July to assert the welterweight belt.
A matchup between the 2 would generate headlines, however du Plessis solely sees a mismatch on paper.
“No, that may be unfair,” du Plessis stated. “If I combat Belal Muhammad, it could be unfair. A hundred percent, have you ever seen the dimensions of the person? What’s he going to do? Is he going to get someone to assist him? Is he going to take a seat on someone’s neck? How is it going to work? He’s the smallest—I couldn’t consider that he’s at 170 once I noticed him. I couldn’t consider that he fights at 170.”
Pressed for a prediction on how a combat with Muhammad may go, du Plessis was succinct.
“I step on his head and it’s over,” du Plessis stated. “That’s how that combat goes.”
Du Plessis’ feedback made the rounds on social media, drawing a response from Muhammad, who wrote, “He can barely stroll with out tripping over his personal ft. He ain’t touching me.”
Although nothing is official, each champions seem to have their subsequent title defenses lined up, with du Plessis anticipated to face Khamzat Chimaev, and Muhammad ready to re-book a postponed bout with challenger Shavkat Rakhmonov.
