Demetrious Johnson thinks if Dricus Du Plessis can preserve his combat with Khamzat Chimaev on the ft, he’ll seemingly go away 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 have been centered on a future combat with mild heavyweight king Alex Pereira, all indicators at the moment 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 heading off the wrestle-heavy assault of ‘Borz’ and forcing him to face and commerce.
“And it’s gonna be a sick fight because we know what Khamzat’s going to do,” Johnson mentioned throughout an interview with The MMA Guru. “You realize he’s going to go on the market—he’s going to look to wrestle, proper? Yeah, he does 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, moreover Gilbert Burns, and him went toe-to-toe on the ft.
“But I think Khamzat loves the grappling, and we’re going to see if DDP can use, you know, his clumsy style and outwrestle Khamzat. Because I think if it does stay on the feet, DDP can outstrike him. Yeah, Khamzat does have a rhythm to him, but he’s not very—you know, like bah bah bah—he doesn’t really throw a lot of combinations.”
Can Du Plessis cling with ‘Borz’ on the mat?
Whereas Du Plessis isn’t essentially recognized for his floor sport, ‘Stillknocks’ have confirmed himself greater than able to taking fighters down and heading off opposing wrestlers. By means of 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 Last Stylebender’ within the fourth spherical by way of 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.
