Earlier this month, at UFC 328, the middleweight belt changed hands. Former champion Sean Strickland handed Khamzat Chimaev his first career loss and became a two-time titleholder.
The title bout ended in a split decision and most of the time that would lead to an immediate rematch. Strickland has said that he will not grant Chimaev a rematch and former titleholder Dricus Du Plessis doesn’t think the Chechen deserves one.
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“I couldn’t believe it was a split decision. It was a very clear three rounds for Strickland and two rounds for Khamzat,” Du Plessis told Fight Forecast. “I think a lot of aura (for Chimaev) was lost, but Khamzat’s still an incredible, incredible fighter.”
“With Khamzat, he says one thing, then he says another thing. He said he’s moving up to 205 to Dana [White] but now he’s calling Strickland for a rematch. I don’t think he deserves a rematch. He definitely doesn’t because he has no title defenses, zero. So, it doesn’t justify a rematch at all,” he said.
Du Plessis believes Chimaev may have to make adjustments to his fighting style moving forward and that “Borz” is at a crossroads.
“This fight is going to go one of two ways for him. Is this going to break him, or is it going motivate him to say, ‘Listen, I can’t just rely on my wrestling. I need to fight MMA’ because that is at the end of the day where the sport is heading,” said Du Plessis. “The wrestling guys have been so dominant that everybody’s starting to catch up.”
