Dricus Du Plessis Would Have Preferred to Face Khamzat Chimaev Over Sean Strickland
Dricus Du Plessis is set to fight Sean Strickland in a championship rematch for the middleweight strap at UFC 312 in February. Du Plessis narrowly defeated Strickland by a split decision in their first bout in which Du Plessis won the belt in that fight. Since then both fighters have won one fight a piece, but Du Plessis prefers to fight Khamzat Chimaev who’s coming off a big win against Robert Whittaker. He took to X to express his feelings about the matchup:
Should Dricus Du Plessis fight Strickland or chimaev?
Many UFC fans were quick to call for a Du Plessis and Chimaev fight after Chimaev seemingly mauled through Robert Whittaker in their fight at UFC 308. Despite Chimaev’s year-long layoff, he dominated with a first-round submission and rose to No. 3 in the middleweight rankings.
On the other hand, many people said Sean Strickland deserved an immediate rematch after losing to Dricus Du Plessis since the match was very close with some people saying he should’ve won. Not getting the immediate rematch, Strickland beat Paulo Costa in a convincing split decision (controversial) win.
Dricus Du Plessis fought Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 where he submitted Adesanya and scored one of the biggest wins in his career. After that many people were split between a title defense against both Strickland and Chimaev. Strickland’s case was he was already the No. 1 contender and fought down in the ranks but Chimaev convincingly beat the ever-dangerous Robert Whittaker while breaking his jaw.
Dana White said Strickland deserves title shot first
Dana White previously said before that Strickland deserved a title shot since he was number one in the world as the middleweight’s top contender. People believe Chimaev would be a better matchup due to his quick pace style and the stylistic matchup between him and Du Plessis.
He called for Strickland to fight next for the belt before Chimaev beat Whittaker so things could’ve changed after his huge win. It turns Dana White was true to his word and gave Strickland the rematch with Du Plessis as Chimaev is likely to fight the winner of that.
UFC 312: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2 is set to take place on February 8, 2025, at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park Australia. According to Odds Shark, Du Plessis is currently the -145 favorite with Strickland as the +125 underdog.
