UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis agrees with the notion that he can drag Khamzat Chimaev into deep waters.
After defeating Sean Strickland a second time at UFC 312, Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) is ready to defend his title against Chimaev next. Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) is coming off an impressive first-round submission of former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 308.
Du Plessis is not intimidated by Chimaev’s aura.
“People think of Khamzat as this boogeyman. That’s a fact,” Du Plessis said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I don’t. I don’t see that. For me, I only see one thing, and that’s the potential to do good to my legacy. The potential to make my legacy even better.”
Du Plessis was impressed with Chimaev running through Whittaker but wants to remind everyone of the adversity Chimaev had to deal with in close decision wins over welterweights Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman.
”He’s really hard to deal with in the beginning of the fight, but so am I,” Du Plessis said. “When you go that hard, and Round 2, 3, 4, 5 comes, you still have to be there, and I’ve proven that I am there in those rounds. So that is 100 percent a situation where I see if he can last that long. He has to realize if he wants to come out. I’m still going to be there, like I was there in the first, ready to kill. That will never change in my game.
“If you look at the guys he’s fought, obviously the situation with Robert Whittaker, I mean, that was tough. Big ups to Khamzat. He is an incredible fighter. He did what he did to Rob. Rob’s teeth were already a problem, and that happened. It is what it is. But if you look at a guy like Kamaru Usman, what he did with Khamzat on 10 days’ notice, you look at Gilbert Burns, those guys don’t get intimidated by people screaming ‘I smesh, I smesh’ on a microphone after missing weight. That is not how it works.”
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