Joe Rogan doesn’t like Dricus du Plessis’s chances if he ever gets a Khamzat Chimaev rematch.
Du Plessis suffered a disappointing loss to Chimaev at UFC 319 this past August, with Chimaev dominating du Plessis with his wrestling for five rounds en route to taking du Plessis’s middleweight championship. That the undefeated Chimaev beat du Plessis was hardly surprising, but the lopsided manner in which Chimaev won certainly raised eyebrows and criticism of his grueling tactics.
Following the loss, du
Plessis vowed he will “return to glory” in the future, but Rogan thinks the South African star will have to wait until Chimaev is out of the picture if he hopes to be champion again.
“It’s nuts because a lot of people thought it was boring because it just went to a decision, but you’ve just got to appreciate that level of dominance against a world champion,” Rogan said on the Joe Rogan Experience. “It’s kind of crazy. Before the fight, Dricus was being looked at as one of the greatest middleweights of all time. Look at what he did to all these guys. He knocks out Robert Whittaker, he beats [Israel] Adesanya, he f*cking beats Sean Strickland twice, like, ‘Oh my God, he might be one of the greatest of all time.’
“And then after that fight, you’re like, I don’t think he’s ever going to beat that guy. I don’t think there’s enough time in the world to bridge that gap. It’s just nuts.”
The gap Rogan refers to is the wrestling advantage Chimaev has that resulted in him taking du Plessis down 12 times and controlling him on the ground for over 20 minutes. Chimaev’s 15-0 record includes numerous quick finishes, but his five-round win over du Plessis made it clear in Rogan’s eyes that there is no solution to this problem for du Plessis.
Rogan and guest Mark Kerr discussed how the Russian style of wrestling utilized by Chimaev (who grew up in the Chechen Republic) and other dominant champions such as Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov is what allows them to be multiple steps ahead of their competition.
“It’s also having such a technical game that as you’re implementing the first attack, you’ve already got three attacks on standby and then as he counters you, you’ve anticipated the counter, you have a counter to his counter and then a counter to his readjusting after your counter, and you’re just hitting him over and over, he just can’t keep the rhythm,” Rogan said.
It has long been said that wrestling is the best base for MMA and even with the sport having evolved by leaps and bounds since the turn of the century, that’s one adage that Rogan still stands by.
“If you want to be a specialist, being a specialist at wrestling is by far—well, when you see what Khamzat did to Dricus,” Rogan said. “Perfect example. Against a world champion MMA fighter that’s been dominating everybody and Khamzat just ramped it up, kept it up.”
