Dricus Du Plessis' coach has an unexpected takeaway from the face-off with Khamzat Chimaev.
Du Plessis is set to put his middleweight crown on the line for the third time tonight, squaring off against Chimaev in the UFC 319 main event at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
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The lead-up to this eagerly awaited clash has been fraught with tension, fueled by fiery exchanges between the fighters on social media. Interestingly, fight week began on a different note, as Du Plessis and Chimaev showed mutual respect and initially steered clear of the usual trash talk.
However, that initial courtesy quickly evaporated during Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, when both fighters officially faced off for the first time. The intensity spiked, particularly from "Borz", who fired a barrage of words at the reigning UFC middleweight champion.
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Chimaev turned up the heat physically during the final staredown on Friday at the ceremonial weigh-ins, shoving ‘Stillknocks’ before being pulled apart by UFC CEO Dana White and on-stage security. Dricus Du Plessis, however, appeared completely unfazed by the incident.
Morne Visser Believes Dricus Du Plessis Gained Mental Edge Over Khamzat Chimaev Before UFC 319
During a recent interview with Submission Radio, Dricus Du Plessis’ longtime coach, Morne Visser, broke down the UFC 319 face-off between ‘Stillknocks’ and Khamzat Chimaev. Visser pointed out that Du Plessis demonstrated control by holding his hands higher than ‘Borz’ and effectively got inside his opponent’s head.
You'll see Khamzat has got his hands close to his chest, and Dricus has got his hands over Khamzat's arm," Visser said. "Not a lot of people look at that, but that shows dominance. If you look at that face-off, you know when there are two guys fighting in the street and one guy gets pulled away and his buddies kind of save him. Dana came in between and he pushed them apart, and only then did Khamzat make a big noise.
Why wasn’t he so arrogant when he was standing right in front of Dricus? That’s just weird for me. That just shows a little bit of weakness. If you want to be tough, be tough in front of the guy, don’t walk away and then shout stupid things.
Dricus Du Plessis last stepped into the Octagon at UFC 312 this past February, where he secured a dominant unanimous decision victory over Khamzat Chimaev in their rematch. ‘Stillknocks’ remains undefeated in the UFC with a perfect 9-0 record, including six wins by stoppage.
