Dricus Du Plessis thinks we’re “wasting time” talking about a fight between him and Khamzat Chimaev.
Still undefeated at 13-0, Chimaev has taken losses outside the Octagon with health issues continuing to plague his fighting career. The UFC contender was slated to meet former champ Robert Whittaker in a middleweight title eliminator last month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but was forced off the card a week out, due to illness.
Losing out on the biggest fight of his life and getting close to a year of inactivity, Chimaev moved down to #11 in the middleweight rankings, but is still planning on fighting for the world title someday.
DDP ‘Not That Surprised’ That Chimaev Pulled Out Of Title Eliminator
The middleweight championship belongs to Du Plessis, who puts the belt on the line against Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 305. Not short of contenders at 185lbs with the likes of Sean Strickland and former foe Robert Whittaker, Du Plessis was asked about a potential fight with Chimaev and if it’ll happen at all, after Chimaev’s latest withdrawal.
“I would love to fight Khamzat,” Du Plessis told Submission Radio, following his press conference with Adesanya. “Nobody’s beaten him and he was almost like the boogeyman of this division. Yeah, I was a bit disappointed that the [Whittaker] fight didn’t happen. Not that surprised, to be honest. I didn’t expect it, but you kind of have to, at this stage, expect something to happen. I’m feeling sorry for the guy. I know what it feels like. I’ve been on that side – not being able to fight, and it sucks. We all fighters, we wanna fight.
“But, right now, it just doesn’t even make sense to talk about it,” Du Plessis said of a fight with Chimaev.
Chimaev hasn’t fought since UFC 294 last October, where he won a majority decision over former welterweight champ Kamaru Usman. Usman filled in for Paulo Costa on 11 days’ notice, nearly becoming the first fighter to defeat Chimaev. But, Chimaev was able to scrape by Usman with a broken hand (which he apparently broke in the very first round).
The Champ On Chimaev: “He Hasn’t Fought One Single Ranked Middleweight…”
Other than that, Chimaev has only fought at 185lbs twice, against unranked fighters back in 2020.
It’s safe to say the reigning, defending Du Plessis isn’t all that impressed with Chimaev’s body of work at the weight class, wanting to see a whole lot more from the undefeated fighter if he’s going to keep talking about titles and being the best in the world.
“He hasn’t fought one single ranked middleweight, not one,” the middleweight champion pointed out. “And to even put him in that conversation right now seems, seems like we are wasting time talking about it, ’cause he’s not in the run. And up until he proves that he deserves to be in that run, there’s no use in talking about it.”
Let’s see if Khamzat Chimaev can pick up where he left off and get people talking about him again, as they were when he first came onto the UFC scene with three wins in a span of three months in 2020.
