South Africa’s MMA star Dricus du Plessis beat Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 and now has a number of options ahead of him.
Du Plessis forced Adesanya to tap in the fourth round of their middleweight fight in Perth in August this year.
Post-fight, the 30-year-old Pretoria-born fighter he’s been linked to a number of potential title challengers, including the winner of the UFC 308 bout between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev, a rematch against Sean Strickland, and even a superfight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
Rematch
Dricus du Plessis’s coach Morne Visser told Submission Radio they are expecting a rematch – but it’s actually one with Whittaker, who Du Plessis defeated at UFC 290.
Strickland has been resolute in claiming he deserves another crack at du Plessis after dropping the title to him via a narrow split decision in their first meeting, but Visser thinks Strickland is still one win away.
“I had a conversation actually yesterday with Dricus,” Visser said, according to MMA Fighting.
“I said to him, ‘There’s only one thing for certain at this stage, only one thing, and that’s that we’ve got to be ready to fight in Sydney in February.’ My opinion is Sean’s overselling it. He’s just had one win after Dricus, that was against [Paulo] Costa. Whittaker had two, and I think he’s going to go for number three now.
“So, my honest opinion is that next for us in line will be Whittaker in Sydney in February. I think he’s going to beat Khamzat, and I honestly think that they’re going to give him the shot.”
Chimaev is undefeated in 13 pro bouts, though his goal of becoming a champion at middleweight and welterweight has been stifled by grueling stretches of inactivity.
When he steps into the cage to fight Whittaker on 26 October, it will be just his fourth fight since 2020.
Compelling bout
One other match-up possibility Visser discussed was another fight with Adesanya.
The loss to Du Plessis put Adesanya on the first losing streak of his MMA career and he’s now lost three of his past four fights, but Adesanya’s performance against Du Plessis, the intensity of their rivalry, and Adesanya’s Nigerian roots could still make for a compelling championship bout.
As for Pereira, Visser claims a bout with the Brazilian knockout artist was discussed on the evening of UFC 305 after du Plessis defeated Adesanya.
However, they’re more interested in moving up to challenge Pereira for the light heavyweight title than seeing him drop back down to 185 pounds to challenge Du Plessis.
