Dricus Du Plessis made his position clear on two middleweight arguments at once: he does not believe Brendan Allen belongs near the front of the line, and he thinks Khamzat Chimaev pushing for another Sean Strickland title fight makes no sense.
Du Plessis faces Kamaru Usman in the UFC Oklahoma City main event on July 18 at Paycom Center. Speaking with Submission Radio, the former UFC middleweight champion first said the division has not really moved on since he lost the belt.
“Obviously, I was there live with Strickland and Khamzat. Fight went exactly the way I thought it would. Really happy for Strickland that he do that. I mean, the division, you say it moved on, but it really didn’t.”
When Allen’s name came up, Du Plessis was asked about Allen saying he was scared to fight him. His answer centered on Allen’s recent win over Edmen Shahbazyan.
“Have you seen him fight? Why would I be scared to fight him? Did you see that last performance? He can go on his knees and be thankful that he wasn’t in there with me. That was horrible. That was horrible. I would sleep that man.”
Allen beat Shahbazyan by unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 118 and extended his winning streak to three, but Du Plessis said the ranking flatters him.
“I mean, he’s in the top five by a massive fluke. He’s on a three-fight win streak. That’s the longest of his career by far. But yeah, either way, that’s not where I’m heading.”
Du Plessis Says Allen Was Only An Option Before Usman
Du Plessis did not deny that Allen was discussed. He said the fight was possible only because there was no better option at that point, before the Usman matchup became available.
“There was a stage I was supposed to fight him and I was like, all right, let’s do it because there was nobody. There was no other fight that made sense until the Kamaru fight came about. And I just went on, well, I want to get back in there. Let’s do that fight and then the injury came.”
If Allen keeps winning, Du Plessis said he would take the fight later, but he framed it as something Allen would have to earn while Du Plessis works back toward the belt.
“He’s ranked number five or six. I’m not 100% sure. I’m not sure what his ranking is right now, but I mean, if he gets a big win, jeez. I mean, I’ll be champion by then again, but I hope he makes it to that so we can do that. I would love to give him what he really wants. I would love that.”
Du Plessis Calls Chimaev Rematch Talk Ridiculous
The sharper title-picture answer came when Du Plessis was asked about Chimaev trying to get another fight with Strickland. Du Plessis argued that neither Strickland nor Chimaev has a title defense in the current picture, while he defended the belt twice.
“Between Sean and Khamzat, there’s no title defenses. I defended my title twice, against Strickland once and against Adesanya.”
“The Khamzat rematch is ridiculous. It doesn’t make any sense. I mean, if they do it, it’s ridiculous. It will be crazy. But I mean, let them do what they need to do. I’ll just fight my way back. After my performance, let my performance speak. Let my performance speak.”
Du Plessis also admitted that the Chimaev loss limits how much he can demand right now. His answer was to point everything at the Usman fight.
“Right now, I don’t have anything to say. I can’t really say anything because I got beaten in my last fight. So, you can’t really say too much, but the fight’s five days away, and I’ll do my talking there. I’ll prove once again why I’m the best in the world.”
Asked whether he would prefer Chimaev or Strickland if he gets back to a title fight, Du Plessis said Chimaev would be the preference because of the loss, but he pushed back on the idea that he is chasing a person rather than the belt.
“Obviously, Khamzat would be the preference. 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. 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, but it’s not something that I’m set on. I hope he wins. He doesn’t deserve another title shot.”
That leaves Du Plessis in a simple position before Usman. A win gives him a stronger argument in a division where Strickland, Chimaev, Allen, and Allen have all stayed attached to the same title conversation. A loss would make the Allen talk and the Chimaev rematch debate much harder for him to control.
Du Plessis has already questioned Usman’s path into the matchup. Now he has also made clear that he does not see Allen or an immediate Chimaev-Strickland sequel as the clean answer at 185 pounds.
