"I'm not scared of Khamzat's wrestling" - Dricus du Plessis outlines eye-opening path to victory against Khamzat Chimaev
Dricus du Plessis recently outlined an eye-opening path to victory against Khamzat Chimaev, who has yet to taste defeat in his MMA career. 'Borz' has been riding a wave of momentum, especially following his dominant submission win over former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.
A bout between the 'Stillknocks' and 'Borz' could become a reality should the South African retain his middleweight title against Sean Strickland at UFC 312. He isn't looking past his former foe, but does have an idea for how he would approach a bout against Chimaev.
While speaking to CBS Sports' Shakiel Mahjouri, du Plessis said that he would be confident that he could hand 'Borz' his first career loss and wouldn't be fazed by his wrestling. 'Stillknocks' mentioned that his path to victory would be exhausting Chimaev and then take advantage by dictating where the fight is contested:
"We've seen [Chimaev] being as exhausted as anybody can be in the third round. This is a five rounder...We can wrestle the whole first round and then we come out in that second round and we'll see what we feel like...And then we're going to fight my fight...I'm not scared of Khamzat's wrestling. I'm not evading, I'm not trying to stay off the ground with Khamzat, that's the mistake everybody makes." [11:33]
Check out the full interview with Dricus du Plessis below:
Dricus du Plessis highlights mistake other fighters made against Khamzat Chimaev
In addition to outlining a potential path to victory against Khamzat Chimaev, Dricus du Plessis highlighted a key mistake other UFC fighters made against 'Borz'.
During the aforementioned interview, du Plessis mentioned that Chimaev's opponents have focused more on not wrestling with him rather than embracing the challenge by wrestling with him and find other potential openings to exploit later in the fight:
"You have to go in there and fight somebody. Because, as soon as you think an area where you don't want this fight to go, you are limiting yourself. You are in a mental space where when you get to that situation, you are losing in a sense this fight. And that's what I think people make the mistake with Khamzat [Chimaev]." [13:27]
Check out the official UFC 312 poster featuring Dricus du Plessis below: