Is everyone underestimating Dricus du Plessis once again?
Throughout his nine-fight run inside the Octagon, ‘DDP’ has regularly been counted out by fight fans, with many of them using his awkward style and sus cardio as a reason to bet big money against the South African. Aside from his most recent victory against Sean Strickland, du Plessis came in at plus money in four straight outings.
And that’ll be no different on Friday, August 16, when du Plessis puts his middleweight world championship on the line against undefeated Chechen monster Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319 in Chicago.
As it stands, ‘Borz’ is a 2-to-1 favorite to unseat du Plessis, but strawweight standout Fatima Kline is done counting out ‘DDP.’
“I feel like I’ve kind of underrated Du Plessis a little bit,” Kline told James Lynch. “Like, I thought he was going to lose to Strickland and I was way wrong about that. His unique style—it’s so easy to not think he’s going to win, but I think he’s gained confidence in me, and so I think Du Plessis is going to take home the win on that one.”
Coming off a TKO victory over Victoria Dudakova in January, Kline will look to make it back-to-back wins when she faces Melissa Martinez this Saturday night at UFC Nashville.
Chimaev’s title fight against du Plessis has been a long time coming
Chimaev burst on the UFC scene in 2020, winning three fights in the span of eight weeks. Sadly, his momentum was halted after coming down with a nasty case of COVID. Despite rumors that he was seriously considering retirement, ‘Borz’ returned to the Octagon a year later and resumed his campaign, landing a dominant first-round finish against Li Jingliang.
Since then, Chimaev’s appearances have been few and far between, though they’ve been impressive nonetheless.
With a majority decision win over Kamaru Usman and a teeth-shattering face-crank finish against Robert Whittaker, Chimaev has more than earned his first shot at UFC gold.
