UFC 312 mailbag: Where does Dricus du Plessis rank all-time at 185 and where does Zhang Weili go from here?

Dricus du Plessis and Zhang Weili stay on the high of their divisions.

This previous Saturday, UFC 312 went down in Sydney, and for the second time this yr, each champions retained their titles in clear-cut style. Within the co-main occasion, longtime champion Weili cemented herself as the perfect pound-for-pound feminine fighter on the planet (and maybe the best strawweight of all-time) with a one-sided show towards Tatiana Suarez. Then, in the primary occasion, du Plessis silenced the doubters with a dominant determination win over rival Sean Strickland of their rematch.

So, with loads to speak about, let’s dive into your questions.

Dricus du Plessis

“The place does DDP at the moment rank amongst UFC middleweight champions, and what do you consider his possibilities towards Khamzat Chimaev?

If du Plessis retired tomorrow, I’d really feel snug calling him the fourth-greatest middleweight champion in UFC historical past. That places him behind (so as) Anderson Silva, Israel Adesanya, and Chris Weidman, and one slot above Rich Franklin/Robert Whittaker. And I’m fairly certain that’s precisely the correct place for him for the time being.

Du Plessis’s run by way of the UFC has been fairly rattling spectacular: 9 wins, 0 losses, 6 finishes, 2 Efficiency of the Evening bonuses, 2 Battle of the Nights, and dominant wins over the No. 1, 4, and 5 contenders. That’s elite stuff proper there. In actual fact, for those who wished to make the argument it’s a greater run than Weidman, you might, however I nonetheless favor Weidman knocking out the middleweight GOAT (even when he was outdated by then) because the tie-breaker. But when he will get yet one more win, du Plessis for certain overtakes Weidman, and is all of the sudden scorching on the heels of Adesanya.

In the end although, that’s the perfect du Plessis can fairly hope for. The issue with being a middleweight is Anderson Silva set an unattainable customary to reside as much as. 11 title defenses (I don’t give a shit that Travis Lutter missed weight so it wasn’t technically a title protection, that counts) is a really unfathomable quantity, a lot in order that in his post-fight presser, du Plessis began laying the groundwork for arguing round it, saying he needs to be the GOAT and it’s not all about title defenses. Yeah, as a result of he is aware of he can by no means presumably get to double-digit defenses. He’d should reign atop the division for one more 4 years, competing a number of instances a yr. It’s ludicrous.

That being mentioned, Adesanya is feasible to chase down if du Plessis can hold this up, and I’m excited to look at him strive.

As for the Chimaev half, see beneath.

DDP vs. Khamzat Chimaev

“DDP vs Khamzat is the actual life model of a toddler taking two motion figures and smashing them collectively head first till one breaks, who breaks who on this struggle?”

Together with his win over Strickland, du Plessis is now set for a collision course with Chimaev someday later this yr. It’s a struggle du Plessis known as for as an alternative of the Strickland matchup, and it’s mainly the struggle we’ve all wished for over a yr. Lastly, lastly Chimaev seems to be like he’s going to struggle for a belt.

However I don’t suppose it’s going to go as simple for him as many individuals imagine.

Chimaev is a drive of nature who at his peak seems to be unstoppable, besides we’ve seen him get very practically stopped just a few instances already. Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman gave “Borz” every part he might deal with whereas additionally being decently undersized. No matter your ideas on du Plessis, he ain’t undersized.

Persons are lastly coming round to simply accept that thought du Plessis is just not a technical marvel, he’s big, athletic, highly effective, robust as nails, relentless, and has an distinctive understanding of combating and the best way to go about it. That’s just about precisely the specs I’d need if I have been designing an individual to fight Chimaev.

Chimaev is a grappling savant, however he additionally papers over quite a lot of flaws by merely hossing folks round, and I doubt that’s actually doable towards du Plessis. On high of that, the best way Chimaev fights inevitably results in fatigue, and du Plessis has nice cardio (certain he seems to be drained, however he doesn’t struggle drained, it’s actually unbelievable, he someway wills himself to not gassing out). Within the easiest phrases, Chimaev fights like a bully, and du Plessis is exceedingly well-equipped to face as much as that bully. I favor him to win come struggle time.

That being mentioned, will I be shocked if Chimaev runs by way of DDP and wins the belt? No. However 2025 has already been a foul yr for “uncrowned champions” *cough* Umar Nurmagomedov and Tatiana Suarez *cough,* and will look even worse if Magomed Ankalaev comes up brief subsequent month. I wouldn’t be too assured in Chimaev.

Different middleweights

“Nassourdine Imavov subsequent for DPP? I do know we need to see Khamzat however are you able to justify he’s earned it over Imavov?”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Come on, now. In a strictly merit-based group, Imavov would get the subsequent crack at du Plessis, however as William Munny famously mentioned, “Deserves got nothing to do with it.” Chimaev is getting the shot. But when I’m in Imavov’s camp, I’m campaigning exhausting to be the backup fighter for that bout, as a result of in the case of a Chimaev struggle, nothing is assured.

Zhang Weili

“Is Zhang Weili at her peak for the time being? Her wins towards Joanna Jedrzejczyk have been nice however they bookend her Rose Namajunas losses. Since then, she has fought annually up to now and has seemed higher each time. Primarily based on the 35 years and older stat as champion, is there higher but to come back?”

I feel that is undeniably the height of Zhang’s powers proper now, and it’s merely a matter of how lengthy will it final? 35 is outdated for sports activities, historic for struggle sports activities, and rattling close to prehistoric for decrease weight class struggle sports activities. The clock is ticking on Zhang and it’s merely a matter of how lengthy she will be able to fend it off.

Luckily for her (and us as followers), it seems to be prefer it might be an excellent lengthy whereas! Zhang seemed unbelievable towards Tatiana Suarez, a struggle I assumed can be very troublesome for her. She dominated Suarez within the wrestling and grappling and even hossed her round a bunch too. Suarez, who is a superb fighter, had nothing to supply and Zhang seemed like she’s not remotely near falling off. And given how moribund the strawweight division is, even when she does fall off, I don’t know who’s round to benefit from any Zhang decline. If she sticks round at 115, I feel Zhang is holding the title for at the very least a pair extra years.

However that’s the query, isn’t it: Will Zhang stick round?

Even earlier than Saturday Zhang was speaking a few transfer as much as 125 and afterwards, UFC CEO Dana White all however declared that was going to occur. If she sticks round at strawweight, Zhang will most definitely put collectively an unimpeachable run that places her proper alongside the all-time greats, but it surely looks like the attract of two belts is an excessive amount of.

Flyweight

“Am I fallacious for considering Valentina Shevchenko would soundly defeat Weili? Weili is a brute, however Valentina was a bodily drive even at 135lbs (I assumed she beat Nunes within the rematch). She’s received Zhang coated when it comes to physicality and I don’t suppose the ability hole is vast sufficient for Zhang to win 3 of 5 rounds.”

No you aren’t, however I additionally thought Tatiana Suarez would win, so what do I do know?

In my head, Shevchenko beats Zhang in probably the most boring style as a result of she’s a lot larger and it doesn’t matter what jiu-jitsu has tried to let you know, measurement does matter. I’m sufficiently old to recollect when Jessica Andrade in all her greatness was an actual take a look at for Shevchenko regardless of being a pure 115er — oh wait, that was arguably Shevchenko’s most dominant win.

Nonetheless, there’s the matter of the place Shevchenko is at in her profession proper now. Whereas the drop off is coming for Zhang in the end, it’s already come for Shevchenko. Sure, she reclaimed the title from Alexa Grasso, however she’s fairly clearly diminishing when it comes to physicality, velocity, and athleticism. I positively wouldn’t favor Zhang however I wouldn’t depend her out both.

Different fights

“Ideas on the Jimmy Crute vs Rodolfo Bellato draw?”

I’d’ve wager cash not a single individual was going to ask about the remainder of the primary card. I assume I’d have been fallacious.

Uh, it was surprisingly enjoyable? Kody Steele and Rongzhu deserved to win Battle of the Evening honors however this wasn’t a horrible runner up. The problem is it simply didn’t matter, outdoors of to the fighters themselves. Outdoors of the primary and co-main occasion, each struggle was both uninspired, meaningless, or each. I’ll promptly neglect about all of them.

Oof

“Was this the worst three fights to ever open up a PPV?”

Certainly not. There have been over 300 pay-per-view occasions. I’m certain if I dug deep I might discover one. However yeah, nothing involves thoughts to tops it. That is the UFC in 2025: you’re going to purchase it anyway, so why ought to we hassle?

Thanks for studying and because of everybody who despatched in tweets (Xs?)! Do you will have any burning questions on issues at the very least considerably associated to fight sports activities? Then you definately’re in luck as a result of you may ship your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I’ll reply my favourite ones! It doesn’t matter in the event that they’re topical or insane, simply as long as they’re good. Thanks once more, and see y’all subsequent week.