Dricus du Plessis doubts Khamzat Chimaev was beaten by the scale before his fight with Sean Strickland at UFC 328.
Much has been made of Chimaev’s weight cut issues following a disastrous loss to Strickland in what was Chimaev’s first middleweight title defense since defeating du Plessis this past August. After a dominant first round, Chimaev visibly slowed throughout the contest and went on to lose a split decision to Strickland. Even before fight night, much of the online chatter centered on Chimaev’s poor
body language at the official weigh-ins and while the fighter himself has not commented on the matter, Chimaev’s brother Artur and training partner Arman Tsarukyan have both blamed a difficult weight cut for affecting Chimaev’s performance.
Du Plessis isn’t having it.
“I think this whole weight cut excuse is ridiculous, to be honest with you,” du Plessis told Fight Forecast. “I think Tsarukyan said he cut 12 pounds in the 24 hours. Those are rookie numbers. Twelve pounds in 24 hours, that’s not that bad. [46 pounds] in total, over the camp it doesn’t matter. What matters is that last 24 hours and 12 pounds is not that much. I’ve definitely done more than that.
“Yeah, sometimes I’ve had bad weight cuts, too. I have. Everybody that cuts weight has had that experience where the next day you feel ‘ugh’ and you have a bad cut. One kilogram can make the world’s difference in a weight cut. I just think using a weight cut as an excuse when it comes to the fight, even if you did have a bad weight cut, it’s fine. It’s happened to all of us, but you don’t go go out and say, ‘I lost the fight because of that.’ No. If you want to change weight divisions, change weight divisions, but blaming a bad weight cut is like saying, ‘I lost the fight because I wasn’t fit.’ It’s on you. Be more disciplined. Be more disciplined then and the weight cut will be easier. Any excuse, for me, when you get into the octagon, there is no excuse.”
Despite Chimaev’s obvious struggles, he still put on a competitive effort against Strickland. With Strickland foiling Chimaev’s wrestling attack, the defending champion instead relied on his striking to combat Strickland, though in the end Strickland still came out on top.
Chimaev managed to win on one judge’s scorecard, to du Plessis’ surprise.
“Crazy thing is where people go, ‘Oh, it was a robbery,’” du Plessis said. “I can’t believe it was a split decision. It was a very clear three rounds for Strickland, two rounds for Khamzat. That was it. It was a great fight.
“I think Strickland did what most people thought he couldn’t do, but I just had the feeling being in there with both of these guys, both of them are phenomenal at what they do. I just think that Strickland he was better being able to be all-around than Khamzat in that fight.”
Strickland not only became a two-time champion, he handed Chimaev his first loss in 16 pro fights. Afterwards, UFC CEO Dana White said Chimaev planned to move up to the light heavyweight division, but Chimaev’s team has also angled for an immediate rematch.
Du Plessis isn’t sure which direction Chimaev goes in, but you can count him among the voices that believe Strickland shouldn’t have to fight Chimaev again so soon.
“I think a lot of aura was lost in that, but I mean, Khamzat’s still an incredible, incredible fighter,” du Plessis said. “People don’t necessarily enjoy that fighting style, but he’s so dominant, he has been. This fight is going to go one of two ways for him. Is this going to break him or is this going to motivate him to say, ‘Listen, I can’t just rely on my wrestling. I need to fight MMA,’ because that is at the end of the day where this sport is heading. The wrestling guys have been so dominant that everybody’s starting to catch up.
“For Khamzat, he said he wants to go to 205. The easier route for sure, to take off the burden of a weight cut, but I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. You know with Khamzat, he says one thing, then he says another thing, he said he’s moving up to 205 to Dana, but now he’s calling Strickland for a rematch. I don’t think he deserves a rematch. He definitely doesn’t because he has no title defenses, zero. So it doesn’t justify a rematch at all, but it’s going to be interesting to see what he does next.”
