Former UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev wants an immediate rematch against Sean Strickland after losing his 185-pound title to “Tarzan” atop the UFC 328 fight card last May in Newark. That might not happen until the end of the year, thanks to this untimely injury.
It shouldn’t be happening at all, according to Dricus Du Plessis, who fell to Chimaev at UFC 319 last summer in Chicago but already holds two victories over Strickland. Unfortunately, his loss to “Borz” was so one-sided, the promotion
may not be interested in a second “Stillknocks” fight.
Yet.
“The Khamzat rematch is ridiculous, it doesn’t make any sense,” Du Plessis told Submission Radio. “If they do it, it’s ridiculous. It will be crazy, but let them do what they need to do. I’ll just fight my way back. After my performance, let my performance speak. That’s the thing. Right now, I don’t have anything to say. I can’t really say anything because I got beaten in my last fight. You can’t really say too much, but the fight’s five days away. I’ll do my talking there, and I’ll prove once again why I am the best in the world.”
Du Plessis (23-3) returns to battle former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (21-4) in the UFC Oklahoma City main event this weekend on Paramount+. The bout came together after No. 5-ranked Brendan Allen sent Du Plessis “into hiding” out of fear of getting his ass whooped by the resurgent “All In.”
This is more Track & Field than MMA with all the supposed “running” from top middleweights.
“Why would I be scared to fight him? Have you seen his last performance? He can go on his knees and be thankful that he wasn’t in there with me,” Du Plessis said about Allen’s recent win over Edmen Shahbazyan. “That was horrible. I would sleep that man. He’s in the Top 5 by a massive fluke. He’s on a three-fight winning streak, that’s the longest of his career by far. That’s not where I’m headed. I mean, if he gets another big win, I’ll be champion by then again, I hope he makes it to that so we can we can do that. I would love to. I would love to, you know, give him what he really wants. I would love that.”
Losing to Du Plessis would mark the second time Allen got “finessed” by “Stillknocks” in recent months.
