UFC might just get the ‘real African’ champion crowned in the middleweight division. Dricus du Plessis has agreed to the UFC 305 fight with Israel Adesanya but now awaits the go-ahead from Dana White. Frustrated, he has called upon White to announce the title fight.
The South African is “100%” all in to face ‘The Stylebender” but as the speculations run amok around the UFC 305 main event, the champ has asked the company to not dilly dally anymore in announcing the fight.
Speaking to the host of Fight Wave, the Proteas vented his frustration about both fans and him wanting the Israel Adesanya fight and still not having any confirmation for the same.
“I’m ready, I’ve agreed to everything, I’m ready, I’m going to do it. That’s the fight I want, I called him out after winning the belt and that’s the fight the fans want to see and at the end of the day that’s the fight I want to have, that’s the guy I want to fight and let’s just announce this thing, I don’t know what’s the holdup. I want it to be announced.”
If everything falls into place, this will be Du Plessis’ first title defense after he snatched the belt from Sean Strickland after bullying him on the mic leading up to the fight.
And now with the organization confirming its decision to feature UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, ‘Stillnocks’ is game to take on the former champion and his former training partner to extend his winning streak.
As of now, du Plessis is on a seven-fight winning streak including the ones over Strickland and ex-champ, Robert ‘The Reaper’ Whittaker (Adesanya’s former foe). And DDP didn’t just beat these guys against the grain, he did it in some style.
He just sat down for an interview where he deconstructed his thoughts on the Whittaker vs Chimaev fight and if he would want to face the Chechen if the latter were to come out victorious.
du Plessis doesn’t think Whittaker deserves title shot
While the champ has his eyes locked on his next possible opponent, Israel Adesanya, he feels like the upcoming fight between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev is something to be excited about. Everyone is stoked to see how Chimaev will fair against a seasoned veteran like ‘The Reaper’.
Barring the Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman fights, Chimaev has steamrolled through everyone he’s fought before. Burns gave him a run for his money. And Usman, despite taking the fight at very short notice and at a division he’s not used to fighting, took Chimaev to the ropes.
The former Welterweight champ started off slow but by the 3rd round, he was in control of Borz and many experts believe that if the fight had gone to the 5th round, the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ would have taken down Chimaev. But if bikes had roofs and extra wheels, they would be cars.
So, now we have Chimaev take on a veteran, a former world champion in his own division. It’s a litmus test that Borz needs to pass to make his entry into the title contenders debate.
Reflecting on the same, du Plessis said that he is all in to fight Chimaev if the UFC books a fight between the two. However, he isn’t that excited to rematch Whittaker as he already has a thumping victory over the former champ last year.
He doesn’t even believe that the veteran deserves a title shot even if he gets past the stocky Chechen. Instead, he would like to see Aussie pit against Strickland for the #1 contender.
