Dricus Du Plessis doesn’t see Khamzat Chimaev losing his UFC middleweight title in his expected next title defense.
After amassing a five-fight winning streak, most recently a win over Caio Borralho, Nassourdine Imavov (17-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) has made his case for a title shot. Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) dominated Du Plessis at UFC 319 in August to claim the middleweight title and is targeting a return after Ramadan.
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Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) agrees that Imavov should be No. 1 contender but doesn’t give him much of a chance to beat Chimaev.
“Imavov’s getting the title shot. I think that’s the only thing that should really make sense,” Du Plessis said on Fight Forecast. “I think it’s going to be an interesting fight. I think Khamzat wins that fight for sure.”
Du Plessis sees the middleweight division in muddy waters. Former champion Sean Strickland faces Anthony Hernandez in a UFC Fight Night headliner on Feb. 21 in Houston, and Brendan Allen has been heavily campaigning to fight Du Plessis. As for Chimaev, he admitted he’d rather not fight a fellow Russian in Imavov.
The South African fighter is looking to rebound in the first quarter of 2026, preferably towards the end of march or beginning of April.
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“As for myself, I don’t really know,” Du Plessis said. “The whole division’s been mixed up. When you had Imavov and Caio fighting, these two guys emerged as potential contenders, the winner there is the contender. Not a great fight in my opinion. Those two guys stood there and – there was moments of brilliance, make no mistake, and I rate Caio Borralho.
“I picked him to win that fight, but it’s on the night they just didn’t show up. Well done to Imavov for winning that fight. He did what he had to do, but right now, you don’t have anybody who’s consistently winning. That’s the problem. How do you pick a contender. You have guys who fight two great fights, one terrible one. The consistency isn’t there, but there’s so many good fighters, it’s just the consistency.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dricus Du Plessis confident Khamzat Chimaev beats Nassourdine Imavov
