It was Dricus du Plessis’ UFC 290 win over former champion Robert Whittaker that put him over so to talk. He had overwhelmed Darrin Until and Derek Brunson heading into the Whittaker title eliminator bout however his win over “The Reaper” let everybody know that there was a brand new face within the high tier of the 185-pound division.
Du Plessis fought for the title in his subsequent combat towards then-champion Sean Strickland. He narrowly defeated “Tarzan” to seize UFC gold. At UFC 305 on Aug. 18, du Plessis efficiently defended the belt for the primary time towards former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya. The win drew the eye of sunshine heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
“Coming right down to 185 yet one more time.” Pereira mentioned after watching du Plessis defeat Adesanya. Whittaker does not suppose it is the most effective concept for Pereira to drop again right down to middleweight to tackle the champion.
“Truthfully, I do not suppose that is a superb combat for him (Pereira),” Whittaker informed Submission Radio. “I do not suppose that is a superb combat for him.”
Having success in a division up is one factor. It is fairly frequent. Daniel Cormier, Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, and many others. have pulled it off. It may have benefits like velocity and never having to chop weight. However transferring down a division hasn’t usually been a recipe for a profitable end result. It did not work out for former light-weight champions Frankie Edgar, or BJ Penn, or former featherweight titleholder Cody Garbrandt, to call just a few.
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“If you transfer as much as mild heavyweight, transferring again down is hard,” Whittaker mentioned. “It is not such as you transfer up for one combat. He is stayed up there. He is been combating up there for awhile now, so it will take rather a lot out of him to get down. And Dricus is so robust there.”
“Alex will get hit, and Dricus likes getting hit. It is arduous to see somebody with the quantity of energy to cease Dricus from strolling ahead into you,” Whittaker continued. “Dricus hits arduous. You noticed that within the combat with Adesanya. Adesanya has like a very good chin. Dricus was nonetheless hurting him sufficient to make him uncomfortable.”
Pereira places his 205-pound title on the road within the UFC 307 fundamental occasion towards Khalil Rountree Jr. in Salt Lake Metropolis on Oct. 5. Whittaker faces the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi. Du Plessis is predicted to rematch Strickland in his subsequent title protection.
