Former UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis hasn’t said much since a humbling loss to Khamzat Chimaev last August that saw him smothered for nearly five full rounds and blanked 50-44 on all three judges’ scorecards. Now, as “Stillknocks” prepares for a return to action, he’s getting back out there and sharing his thoughts on his last defeat.
“It was obviously horrible, I absolutely hated it,” du Plessis said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “But it’s past me now. It’s what I’m about to do. It’s what the
future holds. And I just can’t wait. It obviously stung. It hurt for quite a while. If it didn’t feel like that, I wouldn’t be the world champion. And that’s also the reason why I am going to be the world champion again, is because I hate losing.”
The du Plessis vs. Chimaev fight was a bit unusual because Khamzat never bothered to advance position or attack for submissions. He just caught DDP in a position on the mat that the South African couldn’t escape and then threw just enough punches to keep the fight from getting stood back up.
“He wasn’t tougher than I expected him to be,” du Plessis said. “I could see at the end of that fight when we went to that final round, I was honestly thinking ‘I’m winning this fight’ up until the ten second clapper and I knew it was over. But when I went out for that last round, I was 100% certain that I’m gonna stop this guy, I’m gonna knock him out. And when I got that takedown, I got on top, got in the choke, and started landing, I was starting to … but just, too little, too late.”
“I could feel he didn’t wanna be there anymore. I could feel it. 100%. Just on the way he looked, just on the way he felt. I could feel when I got on top of him, I could feel he went, ‘Oh, s–t’ … I know I can make that man quit.”
It takes a certain person with a certain mindset to get into MMA, and a certain mindset to be able to get past a humbling defeat. We won’t judge du Plessis too harshly for what others would consider unrealistic beliefs. Whatever it takes to get back into that championship mentality, right?
“People say, why am I silent? Why am I not out there?” du Plessis said about his break from online promotion. “Because I’m not an influencer, firstly. And secondly, because what am I gonna say? There’s nothing to say. What happened happened. There was no excuses. I wasn’t injured. There was nothing on the night. I felt amazing. I had a great wake up. I had a great, great camp. I just lost. The next fight, that will be my talking about this.”
Du Plessis revealed that an April return was stymied by an injury and he’s hoping to be cleared to fight next week.
“I’ll know by Monday if if May is possible,” he said. “I wanted to be back in there by April. The injury helped me back a little. I could train still train, but not camp. I couldn’t, start preparing for a fight. So I’ll know on Monday if I can start a fight camp for May, maybe June, July.”
As for an opponent?
“It has to make sense,” he added. “With the middleweight division right now, it’s so it’s weird because there are no long winning streaks. There’s no big winning streaks. Almost all the guys that were on these big winning streak lost. It’s gonna be interesting to see who they give me.”
“I know they said Kamaru Usman got the offer. I didn’t get that offer ever. Never got that offer. If they gave me that offer, I would take that fight, if that is what they offered me. I like any fight. Right now, whatever gets me to a title shot again. That’s what I need. I like any fight.”
