Ahead of their highly anticipated UFC 319 title fight in Chicago, Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev faced off for the first time.
This coming Saturday, the UFC returns to the Windy City for the first time since 2019 for UFC 319 headlined by a middleweight title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev.
The fight has been a long time coming and likely would’ve happened sooner if it wasn’t for visa issues on the side of Chimaev, as Du Plessis has been asking the promotion for the fight since his win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.
Ahead of the highly anticipated fight, both fans and fighters are split over who they think will win, and UFC commentator Joe Rogan has claimed Du Plessis should consider ‘bending the rules’ to win the fight.
Du Plessis and Chimaev share intense first face off
Just a few days out from the fight, both fighters were joined on stage by the rest of the main card fighters at the UFC 319 pre-fight press conference.
From the very beginning, it became extremely clear who the crowd will be rooting for, as ‘Stillknocks’ was loudly booed as soon as he was asked the first question.
Of course, as he usually does, the South African champion played up to the crowd and gave some back to the Chicagoans.
After a few exchanges between the two main event fighters, Chimaev sent a shot towards Du Plessis, claiming: “Africa is never gonna see the belt again. Sorry guys.”
Earlier this week, concerns rose for Du Plessis after he and Chimaev bumped into each other at the fighter hotel, with fans noticing a huge size difference.
However, it was after all the final questions had been asked when Du Plessis and Chimaev were able to get a real close look at each other.
The two had their first face off ahead of the fight following the press conference, and things were extremely intense between the two.
After shaking hands, the two got extremely close as Chimaev seemed to continue speaking to Du Plessis who refused to retaliate. Soon after, Dana White stepped in to prevent anything from proceeding.
Chimaev answers doubt regarding activity as a champion
Not long ago, UFC legend Din Thomas claimed that if Chimaev leaves Chicago as champion, it will be a ‘disaster’ for the promotion considering his recent inactivity.
Despite that, the Chechen recently shut down those claims, stating that if he wins the title on Saturday, he would like to defend it in Abu Dhabi later this year.