Joe Rogan is certain Dricus Du Plessis will never be UFC middleweight champion again unless someone else does the dirty work for him against Khamzat Chimaev.
After defending the 185-pound belt twice, Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) saw his reign come to an end in dominant fashion by Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) at UFC 319 in August, a unanimous decision defeat in which he was controlled in grappling positions for nearly 22 minutes of a 25-minute fight.
It was a performance by Chimaev that still has longtime UFC commentator Rogan in awe. Du Plessis has been adamant he will climb his way back to the top and get the belt back, but Rogan said he faces a harsh reality of an insurmountable skill gap.
“It’s nuts, because a lot of people thought it was boring because it went to a decision,” Rogan said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast with guest Mark Kerr. “But you’ve got to kind of appreciate that level of dominance against a world champion. It’s kind of crazy. Before the fight, Dricus, was being looked at as one of the greatest middleweights of all time. Look at what he did to all these guys. He knocks out Robert Whittaker, he beats (Israel) Adesanya, he f*cking beats Sean Strickland twice and it’s like, ‘
Oh my God, he might be one of the greatest of all time.’
“And then after that fight, you’re like, ‘I don’t think he’s ever going to beat that guy.’ I don’t think he’s ever going to beat that guy. I don’t think there’s enough time in the world to bridge that gap.”
It remains to be seen who Du Plessis will be matched up with next in his first post-title bout.
For Chimaev, who recently teased fight news, his first challenger could come in the form of Nassourdine Imavov or Reinier de Ridder if the former two-division ONE Championship titleholder defeats Brendan Allen in the UFC Fight Night 262 main event on Oct. 18.
