Dricus ready for anything from Chimaev: ‘No place to hide'
South Africa's Dricus du Plessis says he is fully prepared for any scenario that is thrown his way ahead of his third title defence in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
The UFC middleweight champion steps into the octagon at the United Centre in Chicago at UFC319 in the early hours of Sunday morning (SA time) to face undefeated Russian wrestler Khamzat Chimaev.
Du Plessis, a former world kickboxing champion with striking skills second to none, knows he must be ready for if, and when, the Russian takes him to the ground.
Going the distance
'If he (Chimaev) takes me down, I will deal with that. I have trained for that. This is MMA (mixed martial arts), you need to be prepared for anything. It is like saying I don't want to get hit, but you are going to take a punch eventually,' Du Plessis told Fox Sports yesterday.
Du Plessis – now in his fourth championship fight – also stated the importance of strength and conditioning in title bouts.
The only main difference between a title fight and any other MMA fight is the length of the contest.
A regular fight consists of three five-minute rounds, whereas the title bouts are increased by an extra two rounds, something Chimaev has never experienced in the UFC.
The Russian – who goes flat out from the first second of the fight – has only been involved in two fights that have gone the regular distance of three rounds, and although he eked out wins in those fights, there will be concerns in his camp about lasting the full 25 minutes of a title bout.
'I am going to attack'
'We have planned for every scenario. I have been working with my conditioning coach for two years now, and I get better every fight,' Du Plessis said.
'The plan in this fight is to go out from the first round and make him work, the whole time.
'One thing is for certain. I am not going out there to defend. I am the hunter and I am going to attack.
'Whether it be on the ground, in the clinch or in the striking, we are in a cage and there is no place to hide.'
The two fighters got their first glimpses of one another in fight week yesterday, and despite the fact that they are going out to hurt each other on Sunday, there was a sign of mutual respect, with them shaking hands and wishing each other good luck.
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Daily Maverick
3 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Dricus du Plessis loses UFC middleweight belt to powerful Khamzat Chimaev
Dricus du Plessis was thoroughly outwrestled by Khamzat Chimaev, who is the new UFC middleweight champion after victory in Chicago. South African mixed martial artist Dricus du Plessis lost his middleweight world title to the powerful Chechnya-born Russian Khamzat Chimaev in Chicago at UFC 319. Chimaev dethroned Du Plessis in the early hours of Sunday. Much of the prefight talk was about whether Du Plessis would be able to match Chimaev's wrestling for long enough to assert his own striking style. That was answered with a definitive no after Chimaev spent more than 90% of the five-round, 25-minute bout on top of Du Plessis. It's Du Plessis's first loss in the UFC, taking his overall MMA record to 23-3 and his record in the organisation to 9-1. Chimaev remains undefeated with a 15-0 overall record and 9-0 in the UFC. The judges scored it 50-44, 50-44, 50-44 for Chimaev. Such was his domination from the first bell to the last that when the final one chimed, there was no doubt in either fighter that Bruce Buffer would announce 'and new' while holding Chimaev's arm aloft. 'Happy, happy always,'' Chimaev, a man of few words, said about how he felt after the fight. Du Plessis wasn't beaten up so much as he was just held down in uncomfortable positions and unable to get out of them. In every round he was put in a crucifix, with his arms spread, by Chimaev, sprawled across the octagon floor and his face exposed to punches from above. The punches weren't significant in any way, but they did add up with the new middleweight champion nailing an incredible 510 total strikes to Du Plessis's 56. 'The man has incredible control on the top,'' Du Plessis said after the fight. 'He's just like a blanket. I mean, it wasn't a matter of strength. He wasn't that physical. It's almost as if he knew what your next move was going to be.' The South African did have a glimmer of a chance of victory in the final round when he gained a short ascendancy with an attempted rear naked chokehold, but it slipped off quickly. 'At the end, I went for it, [I] had the back,'' Du Plessis said. 'I could almost taste that victory. But big ups to (Chimaev), he beat me fair and square tonight. He was the better man.'' Blow by blow Despite the prefight talks about matching the grappling and wrestling, the entire first round was purely about survival for Du Plessis after being taken down within the first 14 seconds of the start of the fight. Chimaev was in total control, dictating the fight at his pace. There was no significant damage done in that time but the South African was visibly more fatigued from trying to fight off Chimaev. The second round played out almost identically to the first, with little resistance from Du Plessis in blocking or successfully defending Chimaev's takedowns. In total, Chimaev attempted 17 takedowns and landed 12. One minute into the third round, Chimaev had already taken down Du Plessis six times. And at that stage, with Du Plessis slightly more exposed – through trying to fight more after losing the first two rounds – he took more damage to his face. With the fourth going pretty much like the three previous rounds, the referee stepped in. While Chimaev did have control, holding down Du Plessis – for a total of 21 minutes 40 seconds of the 25-minute fight – the referee felt that there was not enough activity from either fighter and made them stand up with about one minute left in the fourth round. But it went back to the status quo, with Du Plessis getting rag-dolled more easily as he tired. The referee separated them again with about 90 seconds left in the final round of the fight and Du Plessis landed a few solid strikes to Chimaev, enough to make him stagger backwards, knowing that he needed a finish to win the fight. But Chimaev took him down again, although this time Du Plessis rolled out of it and was close to securing a choke of his own but was held out by the powerful grappling ability of Chimaev. Du Plessis finished on top for the last 15 seconds of the fight, but he was unable to submit or knock out Chimaev from his position and the fight was lost at that point. DM
The South African
3 hours ago
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The man who defeated Dricus du Plessis: Who is Khamzat Chimaev?
Here are FIVE things to know about the new UFC middleweight champion, Khamzat Chimaev, who defeated South Africa's Dricus du Plessis for the title at UFC 319 at the United Center in Chicago on Saturday. Du Plessis lost his UFC middleweight title to Chimaev with all three judges scoring the fight 50-44. Du Plessis had captured UFC gold at the beginning of 2024, dethroning Sean Strickland at UFC 297. Later in 2024, he defended the title against one of the best middleweight champions of all time, Nigerian-born New Zealand mixed martial artist, Israel Adesanya. Du Plessis then kicked off 2025 by defending his title in a rematch against Strickland. As previously reported by The South African , Chimaev landed a UFC record number of 529 (out of 567) total strikes and takedowns (12 out of 17 attempted) for a middleweight title fight. Take a look at Dricus's fiancee's sweet words after his loss He is a Russian-Emirati mixed martial artist Khamzat Chimaev has lived in three different countries throughout his life. He was born in Chechnya, Russia. In 2011, he decided to leave Russia and moved to Sweden. One of his brothers was working in Sweden and wanted his family to move there. He spent a few years in Sweden and acquired citizenship. In 2023 reports claimed that he received citizenship from the United Arab Emirates as he was training in Dubai and Abu Dhabi The UFC middleweight champion is 31-years-old having been born on 1 May 1994 He remains undefeated with a 15-0 record Khamzat Chimaev reportedly got married in 2022. However, he has not spoken of his wife and keeps her off his social media. Therefore, not much information about his marriage is known. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
TimesLIVE
4 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
'I'm sorry South Africa' - Dricus du Plessis loses UFC title in dominant fight
South Africa's UFC champion Dricus du Plessis was dominated at UFC 319 in Chicago, US where he lost his belt to opponent Khamzat Chimaev after a five-round ground game on Sunday morning. While Du Plessis had vowed that Chimaev would never take him down, the Chechen however took down Du Plessis in each round, leaving the champ with no chance of throwing punches. Khamzat dominated Du Plessis with control and changing positions on the ground, which Du Plessis struggled to defend in each round. However, the champ nearly choked Chimaev in the last round and his contender managed to slip out of Du Plessis' grip. The judges scored the fight 50-44 in favour of Chimaev, making this Du Plessis' first loss since his debut at the UFC in 2020.
