'Dricus Du Plessis is like a giant ogre monster'… Unbeaten Bellator champion Johnny Eblen insists he is a cut above his UFC counterpart

10/05/2024 10:17 AM

Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen believes he would be able to beat his UFC counterpart if a cross-promotion ever took place.

The unbeaten wrestling standout already toppled PFL light-heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay, and is now preparing to rematch with Fabian Edwards on October 19 in Riyadh. And he believes he’d be able to prove his mettle at 185lb if the UFC would allow him to face their champion.

That would mean taking on Dricus Du Plessis, who dethroned Sean Strickland before defeating Israel Adesanya this year. But Eblen reckons he would pose too many problems for the South African, and that he would be able to become the best middleweight in the world.

• Who is Dricus Du Plessis?Meet the UFC brawler putting South Africa on the MMA map

Johnny Eblen believes he would beat Dricus Du Plessis

Over there years, there has always been a question surrounding who would win between the champions in various promotions. UFC is renowned as the world’s best fight organisation, with the best fighters in the world.

However, there are a few exceptions where fans question whether or not a fighter outside of the organisation would be able to do it in the octagon. And one most prevalent example is the 15-0 Johnny Eblen, who has sparred with the likes of Strickland during his world title fight camps.

“Dricus is like the Lord Of The Rings; one of those ogres that they have, the giant monsters,” Eblen joked during an exclusive chat with Bloody Elbow ahead of his fight with Fabian Edwards on the PFL Battle of the Giants pay-per-view this month.

“That’s what Dricus is, and I’m like a f***ing Elf, I’m a dude with a sword who goes in there and chops him up. But I would say that Dricus is great, a great fighter, I just believe I’m a step above him; my grappling is cleaner.

“My wrestling is definitely cleaner, my striking. Not to say that what he does doesn’t work, it’s just a bit sloppy and there’s a lot of wasted movement and a lot of things he could tighten up. But hey, who am I to say? He’s the world champ right now.

“Congrats to him, he’s doing his thing, but what I see when I fight compared to what I see when he fights? There’s definitely a lot of wasted movement and a lot of things that I personally just think I do better than him.

“We’ve got to give the UFC their f***ing props, they sold how many pay-per-views and however many arenas and s***.

“Not to talk s*** on us or any other promotion because I think me and Patchy Mix are the best guys in the world but we’re not able to fight everybody. It is what it is, I’m a world champion, he’s a world champion and I’m just trying to give him his flowers.”

Johnny Eblen details feud with Fabian and Leon Edwards

Before concerning himself with anything else, however, Johnny Eblen has to fight Fabian Edwards once again. Last year, he knocked out the Brit in Dublin, but after he beat Aaron Jeffery the pair were matched for a second time; first in London last month before it was rescheduled for the PPV card.

Following his win last time out, Eblen took aim at his rival’s brother Leon Edwards, who at the time was the UFC welterweight champion. And he maintains a feud with the pair, insisting that he would be able to beat both siblings.

“Basically I knocked him out and my brain just went back to how he was trying to stare me down at the weigh-ins,” Eblen explained of the post-fight melee. “He just like really f***ing got on my nerves, I remember I just f***ing let loose after I knocked him out.

“I was calling him every name in the book, I was like ‘yeah f*** you, you’re a p****,’ and walked off. I yelled probably a few more things and then, because I’m crazy, I thought ‘yeah I’m going to go and take his brother out’.

“I just knocked somebody the f*** out and if there’s not a ref there, that’s a dead man. He shouldn’t be able to fight me again because technically I knocked him out and killed him, in my head. But then his brother’s there and I was like ‘I’m going to f***ing get you too’.”

Eblen eventually decided to apologise for his actions, which he promises didn’t include a spitting incident that was rumoured after the fight. He even wished the elder Edwards luck in his bout with Colby Covington that was scheduled that December, which he did ultimately win.

“I cooled down and went over there and was like ‘hey man, I hope you beat Colby, he sucks’ and I shook Fabian’s hand,” he added. “I was like ‘I’m good’ and I walked back to my corner…”

Eblen maintains that he would beat Leon, adding: “Did you see what Belal Muhammad did to him? I’m bigger, and I feel like I do a couple of things better than Belal, not that I want to come on here and trash him.

“I’ll give Belal credit, he does a couple of things better than me, he has a great body triangle off the cage that won him that fight.”

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