It has taken a long time for Dricus Du Plessis to get the respect that he believes he has always deserved, but his winning streak is becoming undeniable.
With eight consecutive wins inside the Octagon, he has now beaten three former middleweight champions in his most recent outings.
Finishing both Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya, along with going the distance against Sean Strickland, has shown how "Stillknocks" is very effective despite his style not being the most technically sound.
A rematch with Strickland makes a lot of sense for his next title defense given how close their first encounter was but there is also the potential for a huge fight against the champion at the weight class above, in the near future.
Daniel Cormier & Chael Sonnen Agree That Dricus Du Plessis Poses A Threat To Alex Pereira
In order for Du Plessis to add yet another former middleweight champion to his record, he would need to face the current light heavyweight titleholder, Alex Pereira.
At least on paper, many will point to how Du Plessis does tend to fight recklessly at points, which makes a clash with "Poatan" so dangerous for him.
However, after watching what he was able to do against another elite striker in Adesanya this past weekend at UFC 305, Daniel Cormier spoke on the Good Guy / Bad Guy show on ESPN MMA about his intrigue around that potential match-up:
DDP already said Chael, 'It doesn't have to be at '85, I'm not giving you no excuse. I'll come to 205 and fight you.' After watching him, I don't know that he don't do well against Alex because of his wrestling and his ability to strike.
Cormier's co-host Chael Sonnen agreed with him on this point, stating that we're still learning what Du Plessis is capable of at this stage.
Wrong guy to mess with, I mean in all fairness, whatever Alex is seeing in DDP, Alex should know that's what we all saw in Alex two years ago. We did not understand how great he is.