Dricus du Plessis had to make weight twice this weekend.
On Saturday, du Plessis defends his middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of UFC 319. It’s one of the biggest fights of the year and on Friday, du Plessis successfully made weight, coming in right at the 185 pound limit for a championship fight. However, it wasn’t as smooth as it appeared.
Du Plessis was among the last to weigh in, coming in during the second hour of the weigh-ins, which he explained was not because he had
trouble with cutting the weight, but he had trouble with the scale.
“It was terrible. I was kind of pissed off with that,” Du Plessis said on the UFC 319 Morning Weigh-In Show shortly after hitting his mark. “The scale in my room was perfect the whole week. The one in my room and the one in the gym was perfect with the one that we used, and when we get there I was 0.5 over. So I was already on weight, everything was great, and I was 0.5 over. I just went to the hotel gym real pick, took me like 20 minutes, and I was on weight.”
A former welterweight, du Plessis has never struggled to make the 185 mark for his championship fights, this time was no different. In fact, “DDP” says he intended to be among the first to weigh in, until the scale snafu.
“9. 10 minutes to 9, actually, and then I was half a pound over on this scale,” du Plessis said when asked when he arrived. “So I just went in. Man, I was so frustrated. I’m always here early making sure, and the scales just didn’t match up. It was easy. 20 minutes, made the weight, and came down, but it is very, very frustrating. I was really pissed off at that.”
Chimaev also successfully made weight for their title fight, coming in two pounds below the 185-pound limit, making the main event for tomorrow night official, and du Plessis is ready to go.
“I’ve had it in my mind since I started this sport. I wanted to be known as the greatest to ever do this sport,” du Plessis said. “The greatest ever, that’s such a tall order if you look at who you’re competing against, the greats that have done this sport. It’s the biggest privilege for me to be able to come here and start my legacy and add up on that with a great opponent like Khamzat, in a big event like this. This is how you create a legacy, by fighting on massive events, massive opponents, massive cards like this.”
