Dricus du Plessis has his websites set on Khamzat Chimaev.
On Saturday, du Plessis efficiently defended his middleweight title for the second time, profitable a dominant unanimous resolution victory over Sean Strickland of their rematch at UFC 312 in Sydney. After the battle, du Plessis minimize a promo directed at gentle heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who was in Strickland’s nook, quote the movie Troy and calling “Is there nobody else?!” and talking with reporters in his post-fight scrum, du Plessis confirmed that is a fight he wants.
“I’ve the world respect for Alex Pereira,” du Plessis mentioned. “I feel he’s the most effective pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. I’ve probably the most respect for him, what he’s carried out in a brief time frame within the UFC, to come back from one other sport, what he’s carried out there, however sure, I need to share the octagon with that man. I need to beat a man — I’ve crushed Adesanya, who has crushed him. I do know I can beat him, and at 205. one hundred pc.”
In fact, that’s unlikely to occur quickly as Pereira defends his gentle heavyweight title towards Magomed Ankalaev subsequent month in the principle occasion of UFC 313, however that’s high-quality with du Plessis, who acknowledges that he has extra work to do at 185 kilos earlier than transferring as much as problem “Poatan.”
“Khamzat’s first. Khamzat’s first,” du Plessis mentioned. “I mentioned [to Pereira], ‘Please beat Ankalaev.’ No hate towards Ankalaev; I simply need to beat Alex Pereira. It’s nothing private towards Ankalaev, it’s simply Pereira. He’s such a legend on this sport to me already that I’d be superb to beat him for my legacy. I need to be the best to ever do that. However Khamzat is subsequent. Khamzat is subsequent. I need to ensure that this belt, the middleweight title, that there’s no query that I’m the GOAT of the middleweight division.
“I do know you’ve Anderson Silva — in my thoughts, he’s the GOAT of this division — and you’ve got Adesanya, who has carried out unbelievable issues, but it surely’s not about what number of occasions you defend. It’s about who you battle, the way you defend it, and the way you’ve carried out it, what time frame you’ve carried out it, who you’ve fought, and ensuring that there’s no query that I’m the most effective middleweight, and then going up. So I’m not dashing that my subsequent battle is Alex Pereira. No, no, no. I need Khamzat subsequent. I feel he deserves a hiding.”
Chimaev is coming off a first-round demolition of Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 that received Submission of the Year honors in 2024. If du Plessis might be the particular person handy Chimaev that first lack of his profession, that may be a serious feather in his cap as he pursues GOAT standing. However du Plessis even acknowledges that it nonetheless won’t be sufficient to earn a crack at Pereira, contemplating the rise of contemporary contenders at 185 kilos like Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho. Which suggests he might need to push that eventual Pereira battle just a little additional down the street.
“Should you take a look at the highest 5, how that’s modified will get me as a champion excited,” du Plessis mentioned. “I assumed the change to gentle heavyweight was going to be so much faster, however now the entire high 5 has nearly been thrown on its head. Should you take a look at a man like Izzy and Rob, who’ve been operating that division for what number of years, now they’re 4 and 5. You have got me, Strickland, Khamzat … you’ve Caio, and you’ve got Imavov. What a efficiency by Imavov. I feel you make the Caio and Imavov battle. That’s the following battle for the title after the battle with Khamzat.”
