Dricus du Plessis suffered one of the more lopsided decision losses in UFC title fight history last August in his clash with Khamzat Chimaev. Now, the former UFC middleweight champion is doing everything in his power to course correct.
Although the fight front has been silent for du Plessis since UFC 319, he’s been putting in the work to improve. While most fighters may not want to revisit a dominant defeat, that’s not the case for “DDP.” Speaking on Tuesday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show,” the South African contender shared that he’s been rewatching his Chimaev loss at least twice a week since September.
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“It was [difficult] in the beginning, because it’s the most boring fight in the world to watch,” du Plessis told Uncrowned. “So it’s hard getting through it, but yeah, I mean, it’s what needs to be done. And obviously I didn’t like seeing myself losing — I hated it — but that’s how I learn. That was only a learning experience. I watch the fight a lot, actually, and [am] making sure that those same mistakes don’t happen again.
“That’s how I study fights. I would say it took me around three weeks after the fight before I actually watched it again. And then, since then, I’ve watched it quite often to make sure that it’s part of my training — watching my fights and knowing what I did wrong and seeing the mistakes.”
Du Plessis’ persistence is admirable, given how his fight against Chimaev played out. It was a vintage Chimaev wrestling showcase, with the now-champion facing next to no resistance — du Plessis was taken down 12 times over 25 minutes and out-struck by a whopping 529 strikes to 45, per UFC Stats.
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But du Plessis never hit a breaking point, despite the relentless pressure he was dealt. He pushed forward until the end and even secured a strong position in the waning seconds. While it wasn’t enough to secure what could’ve been an all-time comeback, du Plessis said Chimaev’s skills never exceeded the expectations he had coming in.
“He wasn’t tougher than I expected him to be,” du Plessis said. “I could see at the end of that fight, when we went to the final round, I was honestly thinking I’m [going to still win] this fight up until I heard that 10-second clapper and I knew it was over. But when I went out for that last round, I was 100% certain that I’m either going to stop this guy or I’m going to knock him out. And when I got that takedown, I got on top, got in the choke, started landing, I was starting to — just too little too late. I could feel he didn’t want to be there anymore. I could feel it, 100%. Just on the way he looked, just on the way he felt. I could feel when I got on top of him, I could feel he went, ‘Oh s***.’ But he was on top for the whole fight basically.
“I know I can make that man quit. There’s not a man in life that can break my will. There’s not a man alive that can break me mentally. There’s no way.”
Like du Plessis, Chimaev has also remained sidelined since their August showdown. Many expect an eventual pairing between Chimaev and either top contender Nassourdine Imavov or Sean Strickland in the near future. Until then, du Plessis is sitting back and assessing the landscape with the rest of the division.
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But the loss has only motivated DDP and refueled a new fire to become a two-time champion. Du Plessis still believes Chimaev isn’t everything he’s cracked up to be, and ideally he’ll get a chance to one day prove it — whether at 185 or 205 pounds.
“I would love to fight him for the title,” du Plessis said. “Yeah, I want to get my win back as well. Now, if he goes up to light heavyweight, I will get my belt back, and [then] I’ll go running off to go get him.
“I just know I’m a more physical person than he is. He was just better [at] 10% of this game than I was.”
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While the light heavyweight rumors around Chimaev have been squashed in recent weeks, du Plessis isn’t entirely sold on the prospect of the champ — a former welterweight — finding success in the sport’s second-heaviest division.
“People say he’s so big. He’s not a big guy,” du Plessis said. “When I got in there, I was surprised at how small he was, actually. He’s lanky and he’s tall, but he’s not a thick guy. No, I would say at middleweight, he’s an average strength-wise middleweight. His technique on the ground is very good, his pressure on the ground is very good, and that makes him hard — that makes him hard to deal with on the ground.”
Du Plessis presumably won’t be too far off from a shot at redemption once he returns. His two title defenses of his middleweight reign came over former champions Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland, capping his impressive UFC win streak at nine before the Chimaev loss.
After dealing with a small injury, du Plessis is targeting a return around April.
