Khamzat Chimaev submitting Robert Whittaker in round 1 at UFC 308 surprised everyone. Such a dominant performance against a formidable opponent tickled everyone’s imagination regarding what else the Chechnya native could do. No wonder people want to see Chimaev fight Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title. Now ‘Borz’ is ranked #3 in the division and while Sean Strickland, who is ranked #1, wants a title right, DDP versus Chimaev is too exciting to wait for. Even the champion agreed when he stated:

“I agreed that I’ll fight Strickland, perfect — and that’s the fight the fans want. But if you go on what the fans want right now, it’s definitely not the Strickland fight.”

So if his fight against Chimaev were to take place first, how would the champion deal with the Chechen? In a new interview on ESPN MMA, Brett Okamoto asked exactly that. In his response, DDP gave Whittaker’s example and a mistake he made.

“He [Chimaev] gets in and he wants to grab hold of you. And if you are defending or have a defensive mindset, he just grabs hold of you and that’s where he starts to tie you down. So I think that was something, maybe a mistake, that Whittaker made. But like I said, on a mental level, you don’t know how hard this guy is, you don’t know how strong he is.”

He also opined that Khamzat Chimaev likes to get his opponent on the ground, drain them, and look for an opening or a mistake.

He continued, “I’ll be very careful in that sense [waiting for Chimaev to get tired], you know. I think a lot of guys made that same mistake with me. I think Sean Strickland made that mistake with me, maybe even Israel [Adesanya], saying, ‘Listen, get past round one and two with this guy and he is going to be tired and that’s where you start gaining.’ But if you have a defensive mindset, you are going to be on the back foot the whole time, especially with an offensive-heavy fighter like Khamzat.” 

Du Plessis felt that the main reason Robert Whittaker lost to Chimaev at UFC 308 and did so in such a humiliating manner was precisely because he was unable to match the intensity. “And that’s what we saw with Rob, you know. Rob, being technically very, very good, but there wasn’t a stage where he even threatened with a submission, with a strike, or just forward pressure. He didn’t threaten Khamzat in any way. And that’s why I think Khamzat had his way,” Du Plessis opined.

In sharp contrast, the champ is determined to make ‘Borz’ work hard and neutralize his attacks with his own. This stylistic matchup is a huge reason that fans are calling on Dana White and co. to have Chimaev leapfrog Strickland (who is officially next in line) for a title shot.

Interesting Fact: In his 14 MMA wins, Khamzat Chimaev won nine of them in round 1 and three in round 2.

To be fair, ‘DDP’ goes into every fight with the same approach. His ability to mesh schoolyard bully spazzy arm-swinging with sublime timing has proved to be his main weapon till now. It may look uncanny, but it sure delivers big time. This is somewhat similar to Chimaev’s all-out-offense-from-the-first-bell fighting style. This is why the champ is determined to not wait for ‘Borz’ to get tired before attacking him since that is a game plan, which his own previous two opponents employed and lost as a result of it.

Dricus Du Plessis thinks Khamzat Chimaev deserves a title shot!

Just a couple of days after Chimaev’s win against Whittaker, Dricus Du Plessis spoke to ‘TMZ Sports’ about a potential fight against the undefeated fighter. “They’ve hyped up this guy for so long… He’s the first guy to submit Rob and he did it in the first rounds – that warrants him jumping the gun on Sean Strickland,” he opined.

‘Borz’ is the fight UFC fighter to submit the Aussie. Before him, Hoon Kim submitted ‘Bobby Knuckles’ in Legend FC, 2011.

Also, here’s the thing: Chimaev versus DDP would be a new matchup as the latter has already faced Strickland at UFC 297. ‘Tarzan’ was unable to defend his belt as ‘Stillknocks’ grabbed the title from him. While Strickland is looking for a chance to become the champion once again, Chimaev’s dominance against Whittaker has shaken the division.

“Myself and Khamzat is going to be a big event no matter where it is [or] where it is – that’s going to be a big one… There are so many things going on right now, where you do this and where it makes the most sense,” ‘DDP’ opined.

Ultimately, UFC fans will have to see what Dana White and the matchmakers have to say. Until then, do you think Chimaev should get a title shot ahead of Strickland? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.