Former UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis has given his ideas on the present state of the division.
Earlier this yr, Dricus du Plessis’ reign because the king of the middleweights got here to an finish. He misplaced to Khamzat Chimaev in a reasonably one-sided contest, and ever since then, followers have been left to surprise what’s subsequent for DDP.
Whereas Dricus du Plessis continues to be younger sufficient to make one other huge push for the title, there are many different names beginning to pop up at 185 kilos who might mount an actual problem for the gold. In fact, as of this writing, it’s not clear as to when Chimaev will return to defend his title.
In a current interview, Dricus du Plessis gave an in depth breakdown of the middleweight division.
Dricus du Plessis analyzes middleweights
“Imavov is getting the title shot,” Du Plessis instructed Combat Forecast. “I believe that’s the one factor that actually is smart now’s Imavov getting that shot on the belt. However I believe it’s going to be an attention-grabbing battle. I believe Khamzat wins that battle for positive.
“And as for myself, I don’t actually know. The entire division’s been blended up. When you’ve got Imavov and Caio combating, these two guys emerge as potential contenders, the winner there’s the contender. Not a terrific battle, for my part. These two guys stood there and there have been moments of brilliance, and I fee Caio Borralho, I picked him to win that battle, however on the evening he simply didn’t present up.
“He simply didn’t present up. Effectively completed to Imavov for profitable that battle, he did what he needed to do, however proper now you don’t have anyone who’s constantly profitable and that’s the issue. How do you decide a contender? You’ve guys that battle two nice fights, one horrible one. The consistency isn’t there, however there’s so many good fighters, it’s simply the consistency. Glad it’s not my job to choose the battle.”
“I believe the Reinier de Ridder loss sort of threw issues off,” du Plessis mentioned. “You possibly can see in that battle he didn’t look on par in any respect. I fee him, I believe he’s a terrific fighter, he’s a gritty fighter. Awkward fighter, and I like that fashion. However in that battle you might see he was flat. I believe possibly he fought an excessive amount of, reduce an excessive amount of weight [too] typically. Slicing weight is one factor, however reducing it that usually, it will get exhausting for a giant man like him.”
“Then after all you’ve got Hernandez, the de Ridder battle, which might have been an incredible battle, nice battle,” du Plessis mentioned. “I heard Strickland say that he’s combating Hernandez, that might be an incredible battle as a result of Strickland to get down is one factor, to maintain him there, he’s actually good at that.”
Quotes through MMA Fighting
