Joe Rogan believes that Dricus Du Plessis might be facing an insurmountable climb back to gold after his defeat on Saturday night.
Du Plessis was completely and utterly dominated by Khamzat Chimaev over five rounds in a losing effort at UFC 319 in Chicago. Rogan was watching from cageside, and seemed to think he has such flaws in his game, particularly defensive wrestling, that a comeback is unlikely.
Du Plessis had looked unbeatable in the UFC despite having an unorthodox style until Saturday’s defeat. After tapping out Robert Whittaker and winning middleweight gold from Sean Strickland in 2024, he defeated Israel Adesanya and rematched the American in an impressive run of wins.
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Joe Rogan slams Dricus Du Plessis and issues warning after UFC 319
Immediately following the UFC 319 main event, Joe Rogan was asked for his take on the state of the middleweight division after a 50-44 performance from Khamzat Chimaev. He didn’t pull any punches on Dricus Du Plessis, insisting that he may not ever be able to get to the necessary level to win back gold.
“The bookies were right,” Rogan began after it was noted that even as challenger, Chimaev was a monstrous favorite heading into the fight. I mean, for Dricus to come back from that, and bridge the gap between him and Khamzat? That is a tall task.
“It’s a tall task, because that kind of dominance, that kind of grappling dominance, was not just a level. It was multiple levels, and it just didn’t seem like he had any answer for that. I don’t know who he brought in to train with him, but clearly he didn’t bring in anybody that had that kind of skill.”
Joe Rogan believes Khamzat Chimaev performance at UFC 319 was ‘eye opening’
Rogan even claimed that the dominance on display from Chimaev was ‘just ridiculous’. There was an argument that he could have perhaps earned more than one 10-8 round, although ultimately a lack of damage saw him scored at 50-44 by all three judges.
“Eye opening,” Rogan continued while praising the performance. “What Dricus has been able to accomplish by beating guys like Whittaker, beating him down by submitting Adesanya, by beating Strickland twice, it’s been very impressive.
“But it was not as impressive as that. That domination was just ridiculous… ‘What were the scores, like, 50-44 across the board? That was only one 108 round.”