Dricus du Plessis thinks Belal Muhammad is perhaps barking up the flawed tree.
The UFC welterweight champion just lately took a shot on the total middleweight division, together with champion du Plessis, telling Barstool Chicago, “185 might be the simplest weight class — in addition to Khamzat [Chimaev]. Whenever you take a look at that [UFC 312] most important occasion, you’re like, ‘Bro, Strickland and du Plessis suck.’”
Throughout an interview with The Ariel Helwani Present, du Plessis responded to Muhammad’s boast with a couple of cracks of his personal.
“Belal Muhammad, I can’t even keep in mind the way in which he fights, I don’t know,” du Plessis mentioned. “Has he ever completed anybody? … I imply, I like how he acts as if he has a option to ever go as much as 185. The UFC won’t ever let him. If he needed to, he’d should abandon his belt, quit his belt, vacate, and go as much as 185, and there’s no approach they offer him a direct title shot. There’s no approach. The UFC doesn’t even like Belal Muhammad.
“He hasn’t even defended his belt as soon as. He’s undoubtedly higher on Twitter than he’s when he fights; let’s simply say that.”
Regardless of du Plessis and Muhammad—at present No. 6 and No. 7 within the MMA Combating Pound-for-Pound Rankings, respectively—dismissing one another as opponents, the 2 are each in the midst of dominant runs. Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland in a rematch at UFC 312 to report his second straight middleweight title protection and enhance to 9-0 within the UFC, whereas Muhammad has gone undefeated in 11 straight fights relationship again to 2019, capped off by a one-sided choice win over Leon Edwards at UFC 304 this previous July to say the welterweight belt.
A matchup between the 2 would generate headlines, however du Plessis solely sees a mismatch on paper.
“No, that will be unfair,” du Plessis mentioned. “If I battle Belal Muhammad, it will be unfair. 100%, have you ever seen the dimensions of the person? What’s he going to do? Is he going to get someone to assist him? Is he going to take a seat on someone’s neck? How is it going to work? He’s the smallest—I couldn’t imagine that he’s at 170 after I noticed him. I couldn’t imagine that he fights at 170.”
Pressed for a prediction on how a battle with Muhammad may go, du Plessis was succinct.
“I step on his head and it’s over,” du Plessis mentioned. “That’s how that battle goes.”
Du Plessis’ feedback made the rounds on social media, drawing a response from Muhammad, who wrote, “He can barely stroll with out tripping over his personal toes. He ain’t touching me.”
Although nothing is official, each champions seem to have their subsequent title defenses lined up, with du Plessis anticipated to face Khamzat Chimaev, and Muhammad ready to re-book a postponed bout with challenger Shavkat Rakhmonov.
