Dricus Du Plessis reacts after Khamzat Chimaev claims he will be fighting the winner of the UFC 297 main event: “That makes absolutely no sense”

Dricus Du Plessis is reacting after Khamzat Chimaev claimed he will be fighting the winner of the UFC 297 main event next.

UFC 297 takes place on Saturday, January 20th at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The main event will feature a middleweight title fight between current champion Sean Strickland (28-5 MMA) and Dricus Du Plessis (20-2 MMA).

It will be Strickland’s first title defense after his unanimous decision victory over Israel Adesanya (24-3 MMA) in September of last year at UFC 293.

‘Stillknocks’ will be entering the Octagon sporting 8 wins in a row, his latest TKO victory coming against Robert Whittaker (24-7 MMA) last July at UFC 290.

Khamzat Chimaev, who has an unbeaten record in the cage, believes he’s ‘next in line’ for a UFC title fight.

Chimaev  (13-0 MMA) defeated former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (20-4 MMA) at UFC 294 last October. UFC CEO Dana White had planned to book a title fight between Strickland and Chimaev next, but Chimaev had suffered a hand injury during the bout, and the promotion opted to give Du Plessis the title shot instead.

Dricus Du Plessis, speaking to ‘MMA Junkie‘ shared his thoughts on Khamzat Chimaev getting the next middleweight title shot:

“As far as I know Khamzat’s a welterweight. What middleweight did he fight? He fought at middleweight, but he fought at welterweight (in Usman). Gerald Meerschaert? When was that? Was he even ranked? No, he wasn’t ranked. So, that makes absolutely no sense.”

Continuing the 29-year-old said:

“The UFC promised him a title fight? Where in the world does that happen? And he says he’s fighting Strickland. No, you’re not. If there’s a champion, if you get a title shot, I’m the champion. You’re not going to get a title shot. And Israel Adesanya? That makes sense.”

For now, Dricus Du Plessis’ sole focus is on his upcoming fight with Strickland, sharing:

“This fight, just like every other fight, has consumed me. The title has always been the next step. Step closer to the title and closer to the title. Right now my step, the one big step – but far from the final step – is fighting for that belt. In my mind, my whole life can stop on that night. I’ll win or I’ll die trying. My life and my mind stops after that fight.”

Concluding, Du Plessis is confident he will be the next middleweight champion:

“After that fight, my whole life is in front of me. This, to me, is the end for me, because this has been the goal for such a long time. This goal. I don’t really care what happens after that for now. I’ll start thinking about what happens after that when we get there. Then my planning starts with the rest of my career. I’m really excited for that part, because it’s even more spectacular. But for now, this is the end of Dricus not as a champion. That ends next week. Saturday.”

Do you agree with Dricus Du Plessis that ‘Borz’ getting a shot at the middleweight title after UFC 297 makes no sense?

Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!