Ex-UFC champ gets brutally honest on Khamzat Chimaev's chances against Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland: "du Plessis is such a dog in there"
A former UFC champion has expressed his opinion on Khamzat Chimaev's chances against middleweight elites Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland.
Du Plessis will defend his title against Strickland at UFC 312, which will take place on Feb. 8 at Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena, with Chimaev likely facing the winner.
Chimaev recently competed at UFC 308, where he submitted Robert Whittaker in the first round with a devastating face crank. In the latest episode of the MMArcade Podcast, Whittaker reflected on his experience and mentioned how difficult it is to resist 'Borz's' relentless takedown attempts.
“I think he just takes them down and does the same thing, like not necessarily to me but how he beat Usman or how he beat Gilbert Burns. I can see those sort of fights.I think he’d have more success with Strickland than Du Plessis just because Du Plessis is like a big dude. Stopping that first takedown is so crazy. The way he shoots that first shot is crazy. How do you stop that dude? Jump over him?”
Check out Robert Whittaker's comments below (30:08):
Robert Whittaker predicts Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland rematch
In the aforementioned podcast episode, Robert Whittaker also gave his pick for the Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland rematch, which will headline UFC 312. In their first meeting at UFC 297, du Plessis won the middleweight title via a razor-thin split decision. The champion has since defended the title against Israel Adesanya, while Strickland returned to winning ways by beating Paulo Costa.
Whittaker, speaking on his MMArcade Podcast, provided insight into the fight, expressing doubts about Strickland's ability to change the outcome:
"In my opinion, I don't see the fight going any different. Like, du Plessis is such a dog in there. He's gonna come with the same aggressiveness and gameplan... What could Sean [Strickland] do differently to change the outcome than last time? Doesn't happen often but the challenger beats the champion by decision, du Plessis did that. Now, he's the champion and that was a close first fight." [26:23]