Dricus Du Plessis does not rule out Sean Strickland‘s chances against UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev.
Strickland (30-7 MMA, 17-7 UFC) positioned himself in title contention after finishing Anthony Hernandez in the UFC Fight Night 267 headliner. He is currently in the running alongside Nassourdine Imavov, who has won five fights in a row.
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Although Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) beat Strickland twice in title fights and was dominated by Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) at UFC 319, he thinks Strickland is a tough stylistic matchup for the champion.
“That’s interesting because as far as I know, Imavov and Khamzat said they didn’t want to fight each other,” Du Plessis said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “You know the UFC doesn’t like that at all. I do think the Strickland fight does make sense. For me, I don’t want to fight Strickland again unless he’s champion. I do think Strickland would do great against Khamzat. Just his style, I think he would.”
Du Plessis thinks Strickland would do even better than Imavov would against Chimaev.
“One hundred percent, I mean, did you see what Strickland did to Imavov? And that striking, of course, is the other thing,” Du Plessis said. “Strickland’s ability of when you take him down, to get back up to his feet, he does a very good job at that. When I fought him the first and second time, he’s really good at that.
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“Strickland is stronger than people think on a physical level, and his technique to get back to his feet is very good. … Strickland has this unique ability to make people fight his fights, and if you haven’t been in there with him, it’s really hard to figure him out in a short period of time.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dricus Du Plessis: Sean Strickland would do great vs. Khamzat Chimaev
