An ex-UFC titleholder believes Dricus du Plessis was content with simply surviving against Khamzat Chimaev.
Many were excited going into the UFC 319 main event between du Plessis and Chimaev. “DDP” was the reigning UFC Middleweight Champion entering the United Center in Chicago. While it was a highly anticipated fight, the result was a one-sided grappling affair in favor of “Borz.”
In a new video posted on his YouTube channel, former UFC welterweight titleholder Belal Muhammad said he feels du Plessis was happy to avoid risks if it meant avoiding a submission loss (via MMAJunkie).
“I’m just wondering what their game plan was,” Muhammad added. “What they thought was going to happen, if they underestimated the wrestling? Because like I said, in the Derek Brunson fight, we’ve seen that hole in your game. Brunson had mount, Brunson had side control, Brunson got you down with ease. (Robert) Whittaker got you down, and even Darren Till got you down.
“We’ve seen all those paths, and like I said, your last three fights were all against strikers so, you didn’t really have the risks of going against anybody that’s going to shoot on you. Now you did, now we see. That’s a hole. Khamzat pretty much dominated it. There’s no reason for him to be down, to be upset, it was a dominating fight, one of the most dominating championship fights we’ve seen.”
Muhammad and du Plessis have been trading barbs for several months. It started when “Remember The Name” was teasing a possible move up to middleweight. “Stillknocks” dismissed Muhammad’s chances if the two were to share the Octagon. At the moment, Muhammad remains focused on the welterweight division, but one can’t rule out the possibility of a clash with du Plessis given the bad blood.
For now, both Muhammad and du Plessis need to get back to the drawing board after losing their titles.