Dricus Du Plessis: 'Winner of Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev will get next title shot'

09/08/2024 10:10

Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis puts his title on the line for the first time at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia against former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya.  Du Plessis plans to win that fight and move on to the next opponent.  

Du Plessis captured the title by defeating Sean Strickland via split decision at UFC 294 in January, and Strickland has been calling for a rematch since the judges' scorecards were read by Bruce Buffer.  But Du Plessis thinks Strickland will have to 'wait a while' before he fights for the title again.  

"The winner of Khamzat [Chimaev] and Robert Whittaker is going to get the title shot.  That's going to happen," Du Plessis told SHAK MMA.  "Strickland says he's going to wait until he gets a title shot.  He's going to wait for quite a while.  In my opinion, he's going to wait for a while." 

Du Plessis doesn't really care who he faces after Adesanya, assuming he defeats "The Last Stylebender" on Aug. 18th.  Whittaker and Strickland both have solid cases to be next in line, but Du Plessis believes the fight promotion wants Chimaev to fight for the championship if it had its choice.   

"If Whittaker beats Khamzat, a three-fight win streak, he's 100-percent getting the title shot. The UFC has been wanting to give Khamzat a title shot since his debut," Du Plessis said. "Maybe if it's a draw, and Khamzat will still get the title shot in my opinion." 

"For me, it's about the fight the fans want to see; which one is going to be the biggest fight; which fight is the one the fans think is going to be the best fight?  I want to fight the best guy in the world every single time," Du Plessis continued.  "Honestly, it makes no difference to me who steps in there."