Dricus du Plessis: “Those are rookie numbers”

Khamzat Chimaev suffered the first defeat of his MMA career at UFC 328 against Sean Strickland. In the aftermath of the loss, ‘Borz’s’ team has maintained that a brutal weight cut severely hampered the Chechen-born Emirati’s performance inside the octagon. Dricus du Plessis, for one, is not buying it.

According to Arman Tsarukyan, Chimaev, who had originally planned to move up to 205 pounds, was forced to cut 40 pounds during his training camp for the middleweight matchup.

‘Ahalkalakets’ further claimed that Chimaev still had 13 pounds left to lose the day before the fight. While the first nine pounds came off with little trouble, what remained became a grueling ordeal that appeared to take a significant toll on the former middleweight champion.

Du Plessis, however, appears to have little sympathy for his fellow middleweight. The South African suggested that cutting 12 pounds in a day should not be overly difficult for a professional fighter. Speaking to Fight Forecast, du Plessis said:

“I think this whole weight-cut excuse is ridiculous. So he got 12 pounds in 24 hours? Those are rookie numbers. Twelve pounds in 24 hours? That’s not that bad. I have definitely cut more than that. Yes, sometimes I have had bad weight cuts too.”

‘Stillknocks’ added:

“Using a weight cut as an excuse when it comes to the fight, even if you had a bad weight cut? It’s fine. That happens to all of us. But you don’t go, ‘Oh, I lost the fight because of that.’ If you wanna change weight divisions, change weight divisions. Blaming a bad weight cut is like saying, ‘I lost the fight because I wasn’t fit.’ It’s on you. Be more disciplined.”

Check out Dricus du Plessis’ comments on Khamzat Chimaev below:

Dricus du Plessis argues Khamzat Chimaev does not deserve an immediate title rematch

Although Khamzat Chimaev initially asked Dana White to let him move up to 205 pounds in the aftermath of his UFC 328 loss, ‘Borz’ has since changed his stance and is now campaigning for an immediate title rematch against Sean Strickland. Dricus du Plessis, however, does not think that is fair.

During the aforementioned interview, du Plessis argued that Chimaev hardly deserves an immediate rematch, noting that he was not a long-reigning champion to begin with:

“He said he is moving up to 205 to Dana, but now he’s calling Strickland for a rematch. I don’t think he deserves a rematch. He definitely doesn’t because he has no title defenses. Zero. So it doesn’t justify a rematch at all.” [1:18 mark of the interview]