Dricus du Plessis has heard the Khamzat Chimaev rematch talk, and he isn’t having it.
The middleweight picture is a mess. Sean Strickland took a hard-fought decision over Chimaev at UFC 328 to become a two-time champion, and Chimaev immediately demanded a do-over. Du Plessis, who holds two wins over Strickland but lost his own belt to Chimaev less than a year ago, told Submission Radio the math doesn’t add up.
Between Sean and Khamzat, there’s no title defenses. I defended my title twice against Strickland once and against [Israel] Adesanya. The Khamzat rematch is ridiculous, it doesn’t make any sense. If they do it, I mean, it’s ridiculous. It would be crazy. Let them do what they need to do. I’ll just fight my way back.
He also knows his own position, and he’s not pretending otherwise.
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. … I’ll do my talking then and I’ll prove once again why I’m the best in the world.
Given a choice between the belt and revenge, du Plessis picks the belt, though he’d happily take both.
Obviously, Khamzat would be the preference, but it’s about being the champion. I’m not chasing people, I’m chasing being the best. Khamzat, I’ll get him. If he goes up, eventually I’ll get him there, but if he becomes champion I would prefer to fight him and get that win back, but it’s not something that I’m set on, ‘I hope he wins,’ but he doesn’t deserve another title shot.
Du Plessis was 9-0 in the UFC with wins over Strickland, Adesanya, and Robert Whittaker before Chimaev outgrappled him for five rounds. He meets Kamaru Usman in Saturday’s UFC Oklahoma City main event, with No. 1 contender Nassourdine Imavov still waiting on his shot since September.
