Dricus du Plessis isn’t sure where he stands in the UFC middleweight title picture; in fact, he’s not sure where anybody stands.
At the moment, top contender Nassourdine Imavov appears to be in pole position
to challenge current champion Khamzat Chimaev, who beat du Plessis at UFC 319 to claim the No. 1 spot at 185 pounds. Imavov recently scored a decision win over the streaking Caio Borralho to extend his own win streak to five. However, Chimaev’s first title defense is yet to be announced.
Du Plessis is confident Chimaev vs. Imavov will be put together soon, but still questions how strong the Frenchman’s case is in the eyes of the fans.
“Imavov is getting the title shot,” Du Plessis told Fight Forecast. “I think that’s the only thing that really makes sense now is Imavov getting that shot at the belt. But I think it’s going to be an interesting fight. I think Khamzat wins that fight for sure.
“And as for myself, I don’t really know. The whole division’s been mixed up. When you have Imavov and Caio fighting, these two guys emerge as potential contenders, the winner there’s the contender. Not a great fight, in my opinion. Those two guys stood there and there were moments of brilliance, and I rate Caio Borralho, I picked him to win that fight, but on the night he just didn’t show up. He just didn’t show up. Well done to Imavov for winning that fight, he did what he had to do, but right now you don’t have anybody who’s consistently winning and that’s the problem. How do you pick a contender? You have guys that fight two great fights, one terrible one. The consistency isn’t there, but there’s so many good fighters, it’s just the consistency. Glad it’s not my job to pick the fight.”
Following Chimaev’s title win in August, it seemed like there was a convenient four-man race to be his first challenger. Imavov defeated Borralho, and then Anthony Hernandez and Reinier de Ridder were set to make their case in the main event of UFC Vancouver. However, Hernandez was forced to withdraw due to injury, and de Ridder went on to suffer an upset loss to replacement Brendan Allen.
“I think the Reinier de Ridder loss kind of threw things off,” du Plessis said. “You could see in that fight he didn’t look on par at all. I rate him, I think he’s a great fighter, he’s a gritty fighter. Awkward fighter, and I like that style. But in that fight you could see he was flat. I think maybe he fought too much, cut too much weight [too] often. Cutting weight is one thing, but cutting it that often, it gets hard for a big guy like him.”
Had Hernandez made it to fight night and won in impressive fashion, he could have potentially leaped over Imavov in the contender race. Hernandez beat Allen in February and followed that with a dominant submission win over Roman Dolidze, continuing a run of eight consecutive victories. Now, for Hernandez to stay in contention he’ll have to make it nine straight when he takes on former middleweight champion Sean Strickland at UFC Houston in February.
Chimaev may have to wait until then for news of who he defends his title against next.
“Then of course you have Hernandez, the de Ridder fight, which would have been an amazing fight, great fight,” du Plessis said. “I heard Strickland say that he’s fighting Hernandez, that will be an amazing fight because Strickland to get down is one thing, to keep him there, he’s really good at that.”
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VIDEO STEW
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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Look at that size difference.
Ouch.
Merab sparring with Zuck.
Arman Tsarukyan passing his new belt to his dad.
10-8 Cruz.
I saw Philip hitting Santa Clause…..
Well, this is bad.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Honestly, I don’t know why DDP has been out for so long. Get back in there ASAP. It’s not like he took a ton of damage against Chimaev, and anything to wash the taste of that performance out of people’s mouths. — Meshew
EXIT POLL
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