Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis kicked off 2024 with an all-out slugfest for the middleweight title. Now, at UFC 312 in February 2025, the due are set to rematch under the same stipulations and for the same prize. However, you know what is astonishing? This mega fight is not even in the discussion for MMA fans and pundits. Instead, people are busy gushing over a potential clash between DDP and Khamzat Chimaev!

Daniel Cormier is one such veteran who is already seriously trying to guess the winner of this supposed clash. On top of that, team DDP has also spoken on the matter adding more fuel to the fire.

Team Dricus Du Plessis welcomes the matchup with Khamzat Chimaev

Dricus Du Plessis’s coach Niel Geyser spoke about UFC 311 with Hack Check Podcast and naturally the potential matchup with Chimaev came up. He was pretty positive about the same and said that UFC would push for this fight to happen. He said, “Well, I think Khamzat would be somebody that the UFC would push to try and fight Dricus and that would be an interesting fight. Because it would be a very different opponent from what he has faced up until now. But there are some fights in the making now. And some guys coming up that can also be potentially interesting.”

‘Borz’ Definitely holds more popularity than Strickland after demolishing Robert Whittaker at UFC 308. In addition to that, his entertaining throw-the-kitchen-sink style of fighting is more intriguing than how ‘Tarzan’ opts to fight inside the octagon. On top of that ‘Stillknocks’ who is running at 22-2-0 right now has defeated stars like Strickland and Israel Adesanya to take the middleweight belt. The matchup would be between an undefeated MMA star and a champion undefeated in the promotion. Need I say more?

So he deserves a dangerous opponent like the Chechen. Even former ‘champ champ’ Daniel Cormier believes the same and has already started seriously discussing and predicting the possible fight between the duo. Let’s see what he had to say.

Daniel Cormier gives his two cents on Chimaev vs. Du Plessis

DC was seriously considering the matchup and spoke about the possible clash. He said in a video by MMA Global, “If they book these guys today, I believe that Khamzat Chimaev will be the favorite. He will be the favorite on most scorecards if they put him and Dricus Du Plessis matched up right now, that is how good he’s looked in every [fight].”

Chimaev has defeated and dominated every opponent and is armed with an amazing wrestling game with a killer instinct. Du Plessis is also running high on victories. He has an exciting way of fighting just like Chimaev’s friend Darren Till had pointed out. “He’s so s**t that he’s so good. Like everything he does is wrong but he just wins fights,” told ESPN in 2018.

Du Plessis had openly stated his interest in fighting Chimaev, but the UFC chose a different route. Strickland has earned a rematch, on paper at least, while Chimaev is the fan-favorite. ‘Stillknocks’ was not planning on picking and choosing opponents so he will be rematching Strickland in Sydney next.

Fighting the South African champ is like being inside a kaleidoscope. He can be anything and everything – from a world-class kickboxer, to a bad wrestler, an elite wrestler, and so on. So you have no clue as to who he will be in his next fight. This unpredictability makes the fight more interesting when someone as meticulous as Chimaev is opposite to him. Do you think this fight will happen very soon? Share in the comments below.