Dricus Du Plessis is just a few weeks out from arguably the toughest test of his entire career thus far.
On August 16, Dricus Du Plessis looks to successfully defend his middleweight title for a third time when he takes on Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC 319 main event in Chicago.
Du Plessis last entered the Octagon this past February when he rematched Sean Strickland to finally put an end to their rivalry at UFC 312, scoring the unanimous decision win.
Although Chimaev is widely regarded as the favorite by the majority of the UFC fanbase, Du Plessis has received heavy backing from several active fighters and legends of the sport.
Du Plessis’ teammate claims the champion will win during Chimaev’s most dangerous moment
As he has shown throughout his UFC tenure so far, ‘Borz’ is most dangerous in the opening round, with a tendency to slow down in the following rounds due to his cardio.
And despite having rose to UFC stardom immediately after his debut in the promotion in 2020, Chimaev has never been involved in a five round fight, which is a huge factor coming into UFC 319.
With that, the South African’s teammate, Mark Hulme believes that ‘Stillknocks’ will finish the Chechen within the first three rounds, which is when Chimaev is deemed to be his most dangerous.
“Dricus finishes him in under three. I can’t see (Chimaev) lasting more than three. He’s going to come out and burn himself (out),” Hulme told talkSPORT.
“I don’t think people have seen the extent of Dricus’ wrestling, and if I know him, it’s that he’s got a point to prove. If people think Khamzat is the guy to wrestle, he might just hold him off and shove his head up his a–,” Hulme continued.
One of the greatest UFC fighters of all time Khabib Nurmagomedov has given his advice to Chimaev, telling him to believe in his striking instead of burning himself out attempting to wrestle early on.
Former UFC star claims Chimaev winning the title would be a ‘disaster’
Although Chimaev is one of the biggest current stars in the sport, he has been extremely inactive over the past few years because of many factors.
And because of Chimaev’s previous tendencies of withdrawing from fights, Din Thomas has claimed that it would be a disaster for the sport if he went on to win the title.