Dricus Du Plessis proved Joe Rogan wrong when he fought former middleweight title challenger Darren Till on the UFC 282 undercard.
On August 16, Dricus Du Plessis is set to defend his middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of UFC 319 at the United Center in Chicago.
Du Plessis’ last title defence came at UFC 312 earlier this year against longtime rival Sean Strickland, and after scoring a split decision win over him the first time around, he made sure to put a stamp on their rematch.
Chimaev on the other hand earned his title shot after scoring a crushing win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 last October, showcasing his true potential in the sport.
Ahead of their clash in Chicago, there has been some concern surrounding Chimaev’s cardio and whether it will hold up in a championship fight, and these are concerns Du Plessis has faced during his UFC tenure.
Du Plessis came from behind against Darren Till in crazy clash
Early on in his career in the sport, ‘Stillknocks’ consistently faced criticism for his fight style and his gas tank in fights.
And when he clashed against former UFC middleweight title challenger Darren Till at UFC 282 in 2022, there was concern from Joe Rogan after the first round that the South African was too gassed out to make a comeback.
Early in the first round, Du Plessis had ‘The Gorilla’ up against the cage and was landing some heavy shots as Till looked in the direction of the referee to show him he was still in the fight.
But despite dominating the Brit for almost the entire round, with just over 20 seconds left of the opening round, Till dropped Du Plessis and began to rain down heavy ground-and-pound, coming extremely close to finishing the fight.
Coming out into round two, Rogan made the audience aware that the South African looked ‘very tired’ in between rounds and at the beginning of the round he continued to point out Du Plessis’ fatigue.
Till evened up the score after a dominant second round where he caught Du Plessis with several heavy elbows through his guard.
Despite that, just three minutes into the final round, ‘Stillknocks’ once again managed to get the fight to the ground and he subsequently made Till tap after sinking in a rear-naked choke.
Du Plessis proved Joe Rogan wrong regarding cardio issue claim
During his Octagon interview with Rogan, the UFC icon said: “Dricus, you came out guns blazing in that first round, you emptied the gas-tank, he came very close to stopping you, were you surprised that the referee didn’t stop the fight?”
“Yeah well, firstly, the gas-tank can never be empty, it can go to a little bit low but it never goes to empty. I honestly thought the ref was gonna stop it in the first round (when I had him against the cage), he warned him like three times but in all honesty he shouldn’t have stopped the fight,” Du Plessis responded.
Ahead of his clash against ‘Stillknocks’, Chimaev will likely have taken some advice from his teammate Till but will be hoping for a completely different outcome.