Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev have agreed on a date for their highly anticipated clash. In fact, they’ve agreed to two dates.
Last month, panic set in as rumors started flying around the internet that ‘DDP’ had suffered a serious injury, putting his next title defense against the undefeated Chechen monster in jeopardy.
But after letting us sweat it out for a few days, du Plessis emerged online to debunk all the reports and reveal that his fight with Chimaev is coming sooner than we think.
“So we have a date,” the reigning middleweight champion said during an appearance on The Sias du Plessis Show. “But we have potential of two dates. I already agreed to both. A lot of people are saying, ‘Is it this year?’ Yes, 100 percent. It’s not far away. It’s not that far away. The announcement will be made soon. Me and the UFC, we’ve known. All these rumors that came out with injuries, I don’t know where it came from, it was ridiculous.
“I was like, OK, and I just left it for like a week, and then I was like, ‘OK, everybody had their fun, now you’re all going to look stupid.’ We’ve already agreed on a date. That’s been a while ago.
“So I’m just waiting for the contract, but that’s the fight that’s happening. It’s going to be happening in the next couple of months, maximum four months. It’s going to happen one of these days. Nothing is signed, but I’ve already agreed to any date. Any date that they gave me, I said, ‘Cool. Ready. Let’s do it.’”
Dricus Du Plessis ready to prove that he’s the greatest of all time against ‘Borz’
DDP’ is coming off a decisive unanimous decision victory over Sean Strickland in February at UFC 312. Before that, he submitted former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya in The Land Down Under.
Chimaev has not yet been officially announced as the champ’s next challenger, but after his stunning first-round finish of Robert Whittaker in Abu Dhabi, no other fight makes more sense than ‘Stillknocks’ vs. ‘Borz.
“His wrestling is world-class,” du Plessis said of Chimaev. “It’s phenomenal. But so is Israel Adesanya’s striking, right? So is Sean Strickland’s boxing. World-class. Adesanya’s striking, world-class. His kickboxing record speaks for itself. This is not striking, this is not wrestling, this is not grappling, this is MMA.
“And yes, I do think his wrestling is phenomenal, but when the night comes, it’s not about teaching him a lesson, it’s about proving once again that I will be the greatest of all-time and doing whatever I have to to prove that” (h/t MMA Fighting).
