Dricus du Plessis plays up grudge title fight with Khamzat Chimaev: ‘I’m going there to kill him’

Staking his claim for a chance to defend his crown against Khamzat Chimaev next, UFC ace, Dricus du Plessis claims the initial goings of their potential middleweight title fight would be nothing short of “chaos” — claiming he plans to “kill” the Chechen finisher if they share the Octagon next.

du Plessis, the current undisputed middleweight champion, has been sidelined since August, most recently defending his divisional crown for the first time in the main event of UFC 305.

Competing ‘Downunder’, du Plessis brought a definitive end to his stark rivalry with former two-time champion, Israel Adesanya, submitting the City Kickboxing staple with a fourth round face crank submission success.

And linked heavily with a title rematch with former gold holder, Sean Strickland as soon as the opening quarter of next year, Dricus du Plessis has instead welcomed the chance to take on Chimaev, who is fresh from a gruesome submission win of his own against former titleholder, Robert Whittaker last month in Abu Dhabi.

Dricus du Plessis plays up chances of beating Khamzat Chimaev

Playing up the chaos both would bring to the opening exchanges of a potential matchup, du Plessis has boldly claimed he would be entering the Octagon with the intention of “killing” the Chechnya-born challenger.

“(It would be) absolute chaos if you look at our fights,” Dricus du Plessis told Submission Radio of a potential pairing with Khamzat Chimaev. “It’s gonna be absolute chaos, I just think, I don’t see him coming in with a different gameplan and me neither, I’m going out there to attack, I’m going there to kill him.”

“I’m not going out there to defend Khamzat’s takedowns, I’m not going out there to defend, I’m going to attack, so I think it’s gonna look a little bit different, if you look at the Gilbert Burns fight and the success he had against Khamzat… You don’t win fights by defending, you win fights by attacking,”