Demetrious Johnson thinks if Dricus Du Plessis can hold his battle with Khamzat Chimaev on the ft, he’ll doubtless depart along with his middleweight gold intact.
DDP’ secured his second profitable title protection in Sydney, Australia, scoring a dominant determination victory over Sean Strickland. And whereas a lot of Du Plessis’ post-fight feedback had been targeted on a future battle with gentle heavyweight king Alex Pereira, all indicators at present level to a extremely anticipated conflict with the undefeated Chechen monster being subsequent for the South African star.
Breaking down a possible showdown between Du Plessis and Chimaev, flyweight nice Demetrious Johnson believes ‘DDP’ can outstrike Chimaev on the ft. It’s only a matter of warding off the wrestle-heavy assault of ‘Borz’ and forcing him to face and commerce.
“And it’s gonna be a sick battle as a result of we all know what Khamzat’s going to do,” Johnson mentioned throughout an interview with The MMA Guru. “You already know he’s going to go on the market—he’s going to look to wrestle, proper? Yeah, he does a great job. I don’t need to say he’s simply posing on the ft, however when he fought Kamaru Usman, when he fought Robert Whittaker—everyone he’s fought, apart from Gilbert Burns, and him went toe-to-toe on the ft.
“However I believe Khamzat loves the grappling, and we’re going to see if DDP can use, you understand, his clumsy model and outwrestle Khamzat. As a result of I believe if it does keep on the ft, DDP can outstrike him. Yeah, Khamzat does have a rhythm to him, however he’s not very—you understand, like bah bah bah—he doesn’t actually throw lots of mixtures.”
Can Du Plessis cling with ‘Borz’ on the mat?
Whereas Du Plessis isn’t essentially recognized for his floor recreation, ‘Stillknocks’ have confirmed himself greater than able to taking fighters down and warding off opposing wrestlers. By his 9 fights contained in the Octagon, ‘DDP’ has a takedown common of two.55 per quarter-hour. He additionally lands and defends 50% of all takedowns initiated by or in opposition to him.
Strickland landed six takedowns in opposition to each Darren Until and Sean Strickland of their first assembly. He additionally put former two-time middleweight titleholder Israel Adesanya on the mat 4 occasions throughout their UFC 305 headliner earlier than tapping out ‘The Final Stylebender’ within the fourth spherical through a rear-naked choke.
On the flip facet, Khamzat Chimaev averages 4.31 takedowns with a 46% accuracy. He has additionally by no means as soon as been taken down contained in the Octagon.
