Former UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis has given his thoughts on the current state of the division.
Earlier this year, Dricus du Plessis’ reign as king of the middleweights came to an end. He lost to Khamzat Chimaev in a fairly one-sided match, and since then fans have been wondering what’s next for DDP.
While Dricus du Plessis is still young enough to make another big push for the title, there are plenty of other names emerging at 185 pounds who could make a real challenge for the gold. At the time of writing, it is of course not yet clear when Chimaev will return to defend his title.
In a recent interview, Dricus du Plessis gave a detailed overview of the middleweight division.
Dricus du Plessis analyzes middleweights
“Imavov gets the title,” Du Plessis told Fight Forecast. “I think the only thing that really makes sense right now is that Imavov gets that shot at the belt. But I think it’s going to be an interesting fight. I think Khamzat wins that fight for sure.”
“As for myself, I don’t really know. The whole division is mixed up. If you have Imavov and Caio fighting, these two guys emerge as potential contenders, the winner there is the contender. Not a great fight in my opinion. Those two guys stood there and there were moments of brilliance, and I appreciate Caio Borralho. I picked him to win that fight, but that night he just didn’t show up.”
“He just didn’t show up. Well done to Imavov for winning that fight, he did what he had to do, but right now you don’t have anyone winning consistently and that’s the problem. How do you pick a contender? You have guys who have two great fights, one terrible one. The consistency isn’t there, but there are so many good fighters, it’s just the consistency. I’m glad it’s not my job to pick the fight.”
“I think the loss of Reinier de Ridder has messed things up,” du Plessis said. “You could tell he didn’t look good at all in that fight. I appreciate him, I think he’s a great fighter, he’s a tough fighter. Clumsy fighter, and I like that style. But in that fight you could see he was flat. I think maybe he fought too much, lost too much weight [too] often. Losing weight is one thing, but losing weight so often becomes difficult for a big boy like him.”
“Then of course you have Hernandez, the De Ridder fight, which would have been a great fight, great fight,” du Plessis said. “I heard Strickland say he fights Hernandez, that will be a great fight because it’s one thing to take Strickland down, keep him there, he’s really good at that.”
Quotes via MMA fighting
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