Dricus du Plessis coach wants Alex Pereira fight to happen in December: “We’ll just go up (in weight)”
Dricus du Plessis’ coach wants to see his student go head to head with Alex Pereira later this year.
As we know, Dricus du Plessis successfully defended his UFC middleweight championship last weekend. He did so by submitting Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, seemingly bringing an end to their rivalry. Now, he’ll move on to the next challenge – which may well be UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
‘Poatan’ made it known in the immediate aftermath of UFC 305 that he wants to go back down to 185 pounds to challenge du Plessis. Prior to that, though, he’ll defend his own belt against Khalil Rountree Jr at UFC 307.
Morne Visser, the head coach of Dricus, recently gave his thoughts on the proposal.
du Plessis’ coach on Pereira showdown
“No, I won’t give him the joy to go down to 185 (pounds),” Visser told Submission Radio on Pereira. “We’ll just go up because we don’t want to beat him and he’ll say that ‘We had to go down’ and he was fatigued and whatever. So, no – we’ll go up.
“I’m sure that the UFC will be OK with that – going up, if that’s what he said. I know Dricus is game, so we’ll go up. I’m not going to wait for him to come down. He’s fighting in October, so I really hope the UFC gives us the blessing for this for December – as soon as that.”
“It’s a different game plan,” Visser said. “There’s no way we’re going to walk away from getting asked from the UFC to do something like that. We were criticized a few times with Dricus saying no with injuries in the past. This fight (vs. Adesanya) was supposed to happen earlier. I’m glad it didn’t because I’m sure Izzy changed his whole game plan, so this was a proper brawl.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
Will this fight happen? Let us know your thoughts, BJPENN Nation!
