UFC middleweight No. 2 ranked fighter, Dricus Du Plessis, discussed the upcoming title fight between Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev, as well as his own prospects in the division.
“If we look at the situation, I have two options,” the South African told Fox West Texas. “The first one is Hamzat has a broken hand, right? But he has to be ready to fight in seven weeks or he’s going to lose his title shot, because that’s what happened to me. I wasn’t ready to fight in seven weeks because of a broken leg.”
“It took me a week or so to stop feeling sorry for myself because of this injustice. Life isn’t fair, and the fight game is so much more so. Right now I’m not going to beg for a title fight, and if I have to, I’ll out-fight everyone in the top five and then move up to flyweight. I’ve never asked for anything, I’ve fought for it.”
“If you want to give Hamzat a title fight, go ahead, please. Because Hamzat fighting Usman doesn’t stand a chance against Strickland. Shawn will beat him any day of the week.”
In July this year, Dricus Du Plessis earned his sixth consecutive UFC victory by finishing Robert Whittaker by second-round TKO, but refused to share the octagon with Israel Adesanya two months after the challenger fight, and lost his title shot to Sean Strickland, who sensationally took the belt from the Nigerian.
Hamzat Chimaev’s subsequent move to middleweight and his win over Kamaru Usman, which ensured the Chechen fighter’s status as an official challenger for the championship belt, made the title prospects of Du Plessis, who had soured relations with the league’s management with his refusal to fight Adesanya, even murkier.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/33003-dyu-plessi-dal-prognoz-na-boj-chimaeva-i-striklenda.html?rand=19907
