Daniel Cormier was cageside as Dricus Du Plessis successfully defended his middleweight title for the second time, earning a dominant unanimous decision victory over Sean Strickland in their rematch at UFC 312 in Sydney.
Following the fight, Du Plessis shifted his focus to light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who was in Strickland’s corner. While he expressed interest in a future showdown with “Poatan,” he made it clear that his immediate priority is Khamzat Chimaev.
And Cormier supports that, believing the South African has more work to do at 185 pounds.
“Dricus Du Plessis is the man,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “In the Octagon, he called out Pereira. I told Pereira after the fight, I go, ‘He wants you, Pereira.’ Pereira goes, ‘He’s just too small.’ Seriously. Pereira goes, ‘This man is just too small.’ Alex is huge, though. I mean, he looked massive compared to Dricus.
“I love that Dricus has these big goals. I just think he still has work at middleweight before he thinks about going up — Khamzat Chimaev being problem No. 1.”
Cormier admitted that he was once skeptical of Du Plessis, but after UFC 312, he has no doubts about the South African’s legitimacy.
“Watching Dricus today, I don’t know that Chimaev just drives across the mat and takes him down,” Cormier said. “He’s so good at what he does. He’s the man. Dricus Du Plessis is the man, and once again, he proved that it’s going to be very difficult to take the belt off him.
“I know Chimaev has a massive following, and people like him. He’s been dominant, but I just don’t know that he has ever seen anyone like Du Plessis.”
Cormier concluded by acknowledging Du Plessis’ ability to dictate fights on his own terms.
“I’m done questioning him,” Cormier said. “I’m done ever saying that what he does isn’t what’s done by the best fighter in the world, because he is proving over and over again that he is just that.
“The way Du Plessis fights makes you fight him the way that he wants to fight. He makes you stop, he makes you wait, because when you try to attack him, he’s so good at changing speed, changing direction, and hitting you from odd angles that you can’t really get a bead on him.”
