It’s fight week for Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev.
One of the biggest middleweight title fights in recent memory goes down at UFC 319 on Saturday from Chicago, Illinois. The champion du Plessis attempts to defend his title for a third time against the undefeated prodigy Khamzat Chimaev.
Both fighters are on a combined 25-fight win streak and have never lost in the Octagon, making the stakes even higher.
The UFC world is split on who will win between the weirdly well-rounded du Plessis and the highly-touted wrestler in Chimaev. Darren Till backs Chimaev to claim the title while other former foes Sean Strickland and Gilbert Burns pick ‘Stillknocks’ to hand Chimaev his first loss.
A former UFC middleweight titleholder is the latest to leave their prediction for the UFC 319 headliner.
- READ MORE: Khamzat Chimaev’s 17-second UFC victim explains picking Dricus du Plessis to win at UFC 319
Chris Weidman predicts Dricus du Plessis to beat Khamzat Chimaev over 2.5 rounds
Like many other pundits, UFC fighter-turned-analyst Chris Weidman says Chimaev’s best chance against du Plessis is in the first couple of rounds.
On the UFC Vegas 109 post-fight show, Weidman pointed out Chimaev has had issues with his cardio in past fights with Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman, the only fighters to make it the three-round distance with ‘Borz’.
Chimaev has never seen the championship rounds.
Despite this, UFC analysts Din Thomas and Alan Jouban picked Chimaev to win against du Plessis.
As for Weidman, the former middleweight champ has to side with the South African.
“Wow, I’m going Dricus,” Weidman responded to the rest of the broadcast desk’s predictions.
“I’m going Dricus later [in the fight] because I’m a genius.
“What’s wrong with you guys?” Weidman said of the analysts picking Chimaev.
“Listen, we just talked about the cardio of Chimaev being the issue. DDP, he’s shown that he’s fixed it.
But you also broke down that argument by saying it’s about your style and basically it comes down to how comfortable you are in there.
“Dolidze could be in the best shape of his life in this fight. Hernandez made him uncomfortable. I think DDP does a great job of making people uncomfortable and a lot of times what makes you comfortable is having the experience of being in there in these five-round fights…
“Chimaev doesn’t have that,” Weidman explained.
“I think it goes into the championship rounds,” the former champ predicted for du Plessis vs. Chimaev.
Will Khamzat Chimaev shoot on Dricus du Plessis right away?
A common trend we’ve seen from Chimaev in the UFC are his very early takedown attempts.
Right after the bell sounded for his UFC 279 fight against Kevin Holland, Chimaev rushed to the other side of the Octagon and took down Holland momentarily in a wild scramble.
Chimaev has given his opponents many problems with his grappling, leaving them no room to run in the opening round when he is at his strongest.
Taking on du Plessis in five rounds or less, Chimaev could potentially take a more measured approach in his first title fight. However, many believe his chances are best in the opening seconds of the fight.
We’ll see if du Plessis can hold off the early barrage of Chimaev, should it come.