Belal Muhammad says if there’s someone to blame for UFC 319 being boring, it’s the former champion Dricus du Plessis.
This past Saturday, du Plessis squared off with Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of UFC 319 with the middleweight title on the line. It was a massacre. Though du Plessis survived to the final bell, he was thoroughly dominated for the entire fight, with UFC CEO Dana White scoring the bout 50-41 for Chimaev. In the aftermath, Chimaev has been catching a lot of flak for not finishing
the fight, nor really making much effort to despite his dominance, but Muhammad says fans aren’t blaming the right person.
“I called it,” Muhammad said on his YouTube channel. “I thought it was going to be an easy fight. I thought it was going to be a walk-through-you fight for Khamzat, and it was. Dana said he thought there were four 10-8 rounds. I had it the same. People are going to complain, people are going to say what they want to say, but that was a dominant victory.
“For Khamzat, it was too easy to take him down and hold him down. I know people are coming at him, but it’s on DDP to move. If I’m Khamzat, and I’ve got a full crucifix on you, and I’m hitting you, DDP needed the explosion, DDP needed the risk factor of trying to do anything to get up. But he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to get submitted. I think he was just satisfied with getting through the fight without getting submitted.”
For his part, du Plessis made no excuses about the loss, giving Chimaev props and simply saying he was too far ahead in the grappling exchanges. And that’s something Muhammad says is an issue for du Plessis, stating that the former champion was the beneficiary of some fortunate matchups during his title reign.
“I’m just wondering what their game plan was. What they thought was going to happen, if they underestimated the wrestling?” Muhammad said “… Your last three fights were all against strikers, so you didn’t really have the risks of going against anybody that’s going to shoot on you. Now you did, now we see. That’s a hole. Khamzat pretty much dominated it. …
“DDP got away with a lot of stuff, mistakes that he makes, because his matchups were kind of favorable for him, not against any grapplers. Now we know. He needs to fix stuff, he needs to get better.”
As for Chimaev, it’s hard to get much better than “Borz” who is undefeated in his career and has barely had a strike landed on him outside of his fights with Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns. And before fans rush to excoriate one of the best fighters in the world for his “boring” performance, Muhammad reminds everyone that not even a year ago Chimaev took him Submission of the Year honors for breaking Robert Whittaker’s face.
“Fans that are coming at him now saying he’s boring, this is this, this is that, are they forgetting that his last two or three fights were all finishes?” Muhammad said. “He just broke Whittaker’s bottom teeth. I think the next fight, he’ll remind people. I think the next fight, whatever it is, will be exciting because we have more grapplers on the horizon.”
TOP STORIES
Results. Five contracts awarded on night of impressive finishes at Week 2 of Contender Series.
Boring. Matt Brown compares Khamzat Chimaev to Georges St-Pierre after lopsided but less than exciting win.
Main Event. Reinier de Ridder vs. Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez headlines UFC Vancouver.
Arrested. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. deported from United States, immediately jailed in Mexico.
Prospect. Olympic champion Gable Steveson to make MMA debut in September.
Comeback. Frankie Edgar returning from retirement for bare-knuckle fight against UFC veteran in BKFC.
VIDEO STEW
Reiner de Ridder interview.
Contender Series presser.
Shogun with Chuck Liddell watching some knockouts.
Michael Bisping shows how to escape from the crucifix position.
FLAVOR IN YOUR EAR
Fighter vs. Writer
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Speak it into existence.
Kevin Holland ready for his new fight.
Nice shade from Sean O’Malley.
Well, that was quick.
He would lose, but USA wrestling would not suffer.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Gable Steveson (0-0) vs. Braden Peterson (1-0); LFA 217, Sep. 12.
Deiveson Figueiredo (24-5-1) vs. Montel Jackson (15-2); UFC Rio, Oct. 11
Reiner de Ridder (21-2) vs. Anthony Hernandez (15-2); UFC Vancouver, Oct. 18.
Kevin Holland (28-14) vs. Mike Malott (12-2-1); UFC Vancouver, Oct. 18.
FINAL THOUGHTS
RDR vs. Fluffy is a banger. It’s not the RDR v DDP fight I wanted, but it’s still a heater and a half. Can’t wait.
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