dpDricus du Plessis sees no reason why Khamzat Chimaev should get an immediate rematch against UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.
The 185-pound contender picture faces a conundrum at the moment. Strickland won a hard-fought decision over Chimaev at UFC 328 to become champion a second time, and Chimaev immediately called for his chance to run it back. However, du Plessis holds two wins over Strickland, so he should have some say in the matter. Then again, Chimaev also won a dominant decision over du Plessis less than a year ago to win the title. Then again, there’s No. 1 contender Nassourdine Imavov who has been patiently waiting in the wings since September.
Du Plessis has more immediate concerns at the moment as he faces former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in this Saturday’s UFC Oklahoma City main event, but he had time to share his thoughts on Chimaev and the title picture in an interview with Submission Radio.
“Between Sean and Khamzat, there’s no title defenses,” du Plessis said. “I defended my title twice against Strickland once and against [Israel] Adesanya. The Khamzat rematch is ridiculous, it doesn’t make any sense. If they do it, I mean, it’s ridiculous. It would be crazy. Let them do what they need to do. I’ll just fight my way back. After my performance, let my performance speak.
“That’s the thing, right now I don’t have anything to say. I can’t really say anything because I got beaten in my last fight. You can’t really say too much. … I’ll do my talking then and I’ll prove once again why I’m the best in the world.”
Usman is du Plessis’ first opponent since his disappointing title fight loss to Chimaev. Prior to that setback, du Plessis was 9-0 in the UFC, with notable wins over Strickland, Israel Adesanya, and Robert Whittaker. He was inching his way up the Pound-for-Pound charts before Chimaev stole his thunder.
So what is du Plessis’ priority? Defeating Strickland for the belt or getting revenge against Chimaev?
“Obviously, Khamzat would be the preference,” du Plessis said. “Khamzat would be the preference, but it’s about being the champion. I’m not chasing people, I’m chasing being the best. Khamzat, I’ll get him. If he goes up, eventually I’ll get him there, but if he becomes champion I would prefer to fight him and get that win back, but it’s not something that I’m set on, ‘I hope he wins,’ but he doesn’t deserve another title shot.”
Du Plessis added he plans to move up to light heavyweight in the future, joining recent middleweight transplants Whittaker and Paulo Costa (not to mention Alex Pereira, who won the middleweight title before firmly entrenching himself as a light heavyweight star). For now, he’s fully focused on getting past Usman, a fellow former UFC champion.
Though du Plessis would have liked to have returned sooner in 2026, he’s just happy he can finally make that walk to the octagon again.
“It’s the sport,” du Plessis said. “It’s the fight game. Injuries are part of it. I mean, it’s not fun. I was supposed to come back in April but everything always works out the way it should. I really wanted to fight in April, I couldn’t, I got injured, and the injury was a bit more serious than we originally thought, so it took a little while. But I mean, I’ve been training, I’ve been ready.
“I don’t believe in ring rust to begin with, especially not after a year. I’ve been working this whole time. I’ve been working, I’m just excited, that’s it, because this is what I love to do. This is what I am born to do is to go out there and be a great fighter, I love the sport. But man I love that spotlight.”
