Dricus du Plessis has been offered the best route back to the UFC crown, according to an iconic former title challenger.
Losing his middleweight championship earlier this month, Dricus du Plessis found himself on the wrong side of a lopsided decision loss to the unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev in his third defense of the divisional belt.
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And seeing his championship run ended at the hands and grappling of the dominant Chimaev, du Plessis has already been offered a route back to action.
Namely, the South African is being pursued by a former title challenger who recently snapped his own two-fight losing skid.
Dricus du Plessis backed to fight Paulo Costa by Chael Sonnen
Receiving an almost-immediate call out from former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa, Pretoria native du Plessis has been urged by the Brazilian to fight once more before the turn of the year.
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Himself targeting one more fight this year following his recent win over Roman Kopylov, Costa has been backed to welcome du Plessis back to the Octagon by former two-time middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen.
“I love it — I love the matchup,” Sonnen said of du Plessis vs. Costa on his YouTube channel. “By the way, this is Paulo Costa’s call out, but I feel like he nailed it.
“…Tell me a better fight — tell me a better fight for Dricus. In some ways, that is the perfect opponent for Dricus. Dricus is the perfect opponent for Paulo Costa.
“I just get that one [fight],” Sonnen explained.
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Yet to respond to Costa’s request for a showdown so far, du Plessis addressed his one-sided loss to Chimaev in an emotional statement.
Dricus du Plessis congratulates Khamzat Chimaev after UFC 319 win
Remaining upbeat despite his near-record-setting loss to Chimaev earlier this month, du Plessis vowed to “embrace” the loss to the Chechen star.
Offering his congratulations to Chimaev off the back of the loss, du Plessis attributed the defeat to the fact that on the night, the unbeaten star was just better than him.
“I have absolutely no excuses for my performance,” Du Plessis posted on Instagram. “I was beaten by a better fighter on the night, congratulations to my opponent and thank you for the honour of sharing the octagon with you.”