Sean O’Malley saw something from Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319 that deserves praise.
There certainly was not much to be happy about for Du Plessis earlier this month.
After two successful middleweight title defenses against Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland, Du Plessis was emphatically beaten by Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of the Chicago-held pay-per-view on August 16.
But despite the South African offering little resistance as Chimaev racked up a near-record amount of control time across a one-sided 25-minute bout, one of Du Plessis’ former UFC champs did at least see one positive he could take from the setback.
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Sean O’Malley impressed that Dricus du Plessis ‘survived’ against Khamzat Chimaev
Du Plessis has been coming under fire from many fans, fighters, and analysts ever since his failure to offer any threat to Chimaev at UFC 319.
The South African was not the first to fall victim to the Chechen star’s smothering grappling game, and O’Malley does not think Du Plessis will be the last.
In fact, given how Chimaev brutally submitted Robert Whittaker last year and put himself in dominant ground positions again at UFC 319, ‘Suga’ was impressed by Du Plessis’ ability to survive five full rounds against ‘Borz’.
“To be honest, I don’t see anybody lasting as long as DDP did,” O’Malley said on the One Night with Steiny podcast.
“Like, DDP survived, which was impressive in itself.
“Khamzat is a finisher. He’s a killer,” O’Malley added.
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UFC legend pitches next fight for Dricus du Plessis
While middleweight talk has largely focused on Chimaev’s first challenger, some have been discussing what should lie ahead for the defeated former champion.
Dan Hardy pitched Du Plessis against Anthony Hernandez before ‘Fluffy’ got booked opposite Reinier de Ridder for UFC Vancouver this October.
Although that new main event matchup has eliminated a couple of prominent options, Chael Sonnen recently highlighted another — and it comes much further down the ladder.
“I love it, I love the matchup,” Sonnen said of Du Plessis vs Paulo Costa on his YouTube channel. “By the way, this is Paulo Costa’s callout, 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,” Sonnen added.
The Brazilian ex-title challenger is currently outside of the top 10 at 185 pounds. Costa’s UFC 318 win over Roman Kopylov marked his first win since 2022 and ensured he would not drop out of the rankings entirely.
He’s now looking for an opportunity to significantly improve on his No. 13 position and return to title contention in the UFC.