Dricus du Plessis knows there’s a lot on the line in his next fight.
It’s been six months since du Plessis lost the middleweight title to Khamzat Chimaev in humbling fashion, with the undefeated Chimaev sweeping the scorecards in their UFC 319 main event clash. With the 185-pound division in flux, du Plessis has been waiting for the right time to return, and he has his eye on the UFC’s April 11 UFC 327 event in Miami.
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“I’ll be ready for April,” du Plessis told Fight Forecast. “I would love to be on that April card, the Miami card. There’s no opponent yet, there’s no contract yet, we don’t have any of that. Whoever. Let’s go. I’m ready to go again and get back to my belt as soon as possible. Doesn’t really matter who it is. I would, of course, love for it to be Khamzat and redeem that loss, but for me right now, the next fight is the most important fight of my life.”
Chimaev is also yet to fight since defeating du Plessis. In recent months, Chimaev has flirted with a move up to light heavyweight where he has targeted champion Alex Pereira.
However, if du Plessis has any say, Chimaev will stick around long enough for them to rematch. And he’ll do everything in his power to prepare for Chimaev’s dominant wrestling style.
“Fighting Khamzat again is what I’m after,” du Plessis said. “Expecting any surprises? No. There’s not going to be any surprises. That is the way he’s going to fight, and if he tries anything different it will be a terrible night, but we all know that. He did what he had to do to win that belt. We can’t hate on him for that. He did what he needed to do. It’s the rules of the game and he did it. So saying that it’s not fair, it is fair, he did what he had to do. Not how I would win my belt or would like to, but that’s what he did. Now it’s my responsibility to go and fix that to stop him from doing that again and get him to fight my fight.”
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“It’s always great if you have a guy that comes and fights because it’s my style and it’s what I love to do entertain, to hear the crowd go crazy,” du Plessis added. “But he knows that and that’s why he went for that style. Once again, I understand that it wasn’t the best fight to watch. In fact, it was a terrible fight to watch, but he did what he had to do to win that title and good for him. My responsibility is to stop him from doing that and that’s what I will do.”
Even if Chimaev isn’t next, du Plessis expects a shot to regain the title to be booked soon, especially if he gets back on the winning track in impressive fashion against whoever signs on to face him in Miami.
“I’ll have my belt back before the end of this year,” du Plessis said when asked for his most optimistic 2026 prediction.
