Dricus du Plessis has his sites set on Khamzat Chimaev.
On Saturday, du Plessis successfully defended his middleweight title for the second time, winning a dominant unanimous decision victory over Sean Strickland in their rematch at UFC 312 in Sydney. After the fight, du Plessis cut a promo directed at light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who was in Strickland’s corner, quote the film Troy and calling “Is there no one else?!” and speaking with reporters in his post-fight scrum, du Plessis confirmed that is a fight he wants.
“I have the world respect for Alex Pereira,” du Plessis said. “I think he is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. I have the most respect for him, what he’s done in a short period of time in the UFC, to come from another sport, what he’s done there, but yes, I want to share the octagon with that man. I want to beat a guy — I’ve beaten Adesanya, who has beaten him. I know I can beat him, and at 205. 100 percent.”
Of course, that’s unlikely to happen soon as Pereira defends his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev next month in the main event of UFC 313, but that’s fine with du Plessis, who acknowledges that he has more work to do at 185 pounds before moving up to challenge “Poatan.”
“Khamzat’s first. Khamzat’s first,” du Plessis said. “I said [to Pereira], ‘Please beat Ankalaev.’ No hate against Ankalaev; I just want to beat Alex Pereira. It’s nothing personal against Ankalaev, it’s just Pereira. He’s such a legend in this sport to me already that I would be amazing to beat him for my legacy. I want to be the greatest to ever do this. But Khamzat is next. Khamzat is next. I want to make sure that this belt, the middleweight title, that there’s no question that I’m the GOAT of the middleweight division.
“I know you have Anderson Silva — in my mind, he is the GOAT of this division — and you have Adesanya, who has done incredible things, but it’s not about how many times you defend. It’s about who you fight, how you defend it, and how you’ve done it, what period of time you’ve done it, who you’ve fought, and making sure that there’s no question that I am the best middleweight, and then going up. So I’m not rushing that my next fight is Alex Pereira. No, no, no. I want Khamzat next. I think he deserves a hiding.”
Chimaev is coming off a first-round demolition of Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 that won Submission of the Year honors in 2024. If du Plessis can be the person to hand Chimaev that first loss of his career, that would be a major feather in his cap as he pursues GOAT status. But du Plessis even acknowledges that it still might not be enough to earn a crack at Pereira, considering the rise of fresh contenders at 185 pounds like Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho. Which means he may have to push that eventual Pereira fight a little further down the road.
“If you look at the top five, how that’s changed gets me as a champion excited,” du Plessis said. “I thought the change to light heavyweight was going to be a lot quicker, but now the whole top five has almost been thrown on its head. If you look at a guy like Izzy and Rob, who have been running that division for how many years, now they are four and five. You have me, Strickland, Khamzat ... you have Caio, and you have Imavov. What a performance by Imavov. I think you make the Caio and Imavov fight. That’s the next fight for the title after the fight with Khamzat.”
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