CHICAGO – UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis sees a plethora of contenders in his division.
Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) will look to notch his third title defense when he takes on Khamzat Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 319 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) main event at United Center in Chicago.
Two of Du Plessis’ middleweight title fights came in wins over Sean Strickland, and the South African champion is happy to have fresh blood coming up.
“Man, what a time to be the middleweight champion of the world,” Du Plessis told reporters at media day. “It’s an exciting division, and I love it. I love it because there’s a lot of guys in the division, there’s a lot of movement, and there’s so many guys putting up their hand to be at the top of the division.
“But after this, not somebody necessarily putting their hand up to be the next No. 1 contender, and that’s exciting because there’s four guys, immediate guys that I can think of that are right there. Any one of them can be that guy, but I think between them, they’re all going to sort it out pretty quickly, and that’s exciting.”
Anthony Hernandez scored a dominant submission of Roman Dolidze in this past Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 72 headliner. Last month, Reinier de Ridder outlasted Robert Whittaker at UFC on ABC 9, and next month Nassourdine Imavov meets Caio Borralho in the Sept. 6 main event in Paris.
“Anthony Hernandez, I have to say,” Du Plessis said on who has stood out the most. “His last fight against Doldize was very, very impressive. Of course the fight with RDR and Whittaker, that was a big test for him, but it was a very, very, very close fight. Some could say dodgy decision, others say it’s the right decision. I don’t even have an opinion on the decision.
“If they gave that fight to Rob, I would 100 percent agree. If they gave it to RDR like they did, I 100 percent agree. It’s one of those fights, but Hernandez was the one. Obviously Dolidze was ranked No. 9 when they fought, but he looked incredible in that fight. He looked incredible. Nobody’s ever done that to Dolidze.”
