205 pounds? Not yet.
It has been three months since former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis dominated former Welterweight kingpin Kamaru Usman in the UFC Oklahoma City main event.
Since then, “DDP” has remained relatively quiet about his next move.
Du Plessis called for another title shot following his latest victory, especially considering he already owns two wins over current Middleweight champion Sean Strickland. However, talk of a move to Light Heavyweight
recently began gaining traction after it was revealed that Du Plessis currently cuts approximately 45 pounds to make the Middleweight limit.
A potential matchup with former Light Heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev was then floated as something UFC wanted to book.
As it turns out, the promotion had something much bigger in mind.
Du Plessis’ head coach, Morne Visser, recently revealed that UFC attempted to organize a four-man Light Heavyweight tournament to determine champion Carlos Ulberg’s next challenger. The promotion wanted “DDP” involved, but Visser rejected the proposal.
“UFC wanted him to go up to Light Heavyweight, but that’s not going to happen,” Visser told Fight Forecast. “He’s not a real 205er. They asked me three weeks ago. They asked me for Dricus to move up, and we’d join a pool of four fighters — Jiri, Dricus, Ankalaev and [Stirling].
“They wanted the four guys to go into a pool, fight on one night, then the winners fight each other, and then the winner of that fights Ulberg,” Visser continued. “A bit of a Grand Prix.”
Unfortunately, Visser believes Du Plessis needs considerably more time to properly prepare his body for the move.
“I said no because it’s very easy to go up to 205, but it took me a year to get Dricus from Welterweight to Middleweight,” Visser said. “To put on the weight means absolutely nothing. Anyone can put on weight — just eat. We need to get the power up. So, we will do that gradually because we will go up to 205. That’s 100 percent the plan. But we want our belt back and to defend it once. I made that clear to UFC.”
A Light Heavyweight Grand Prix featuring three former UFC champions?
We really can’t have anything nice.
Nevertheless, with Du Plessis remaining at Middleweight for now, several options are available.
He could stay active against surging contender Brendan Allen, with whom he already has plenty of bad blood. He could sit on the sidelines and wait for another title shot based on his resume. Or, if Strickland follows through on his threat to vacate the championship, “DDP” could find himself competing for an interim belt.
Visser also revealed that Du Plessis is ready to return after his honeymoon and is targeting an early 2027 comeback, most likely in late February or March.
The move to Light Heavyweight is apparently inevitable.
UFC’s intriguing Grand Prix idea simply arrived too soon.
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