The UFC 319 main event has been in the works as early as last year following Dricus Du Plessis’ first defense.
This middleweight title fight between Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev will decide who is the best fighter in that weight class.
Since his victories over Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya in 2024, the South African has cemented himself as the world’s best with his eye-catching, awkward style, taking him to championship glory.
While at the beginning of 2025, it looked like ‘The Wolf’ would be the opponent for the division’s king, it would instead be a rematch against Strickland, which ended in a decision victory.
Dricus Du Plessis revealed in 2024 how he’d tackle Khamzat Chimaev in the first round of a UFC fight
But before confirmation of the rematch, he spoke to the media at the end of 2024 about a potential clash with the Chechen.
Chimaev, who Rampage Jackson labelled an ‘animal’, had just come off a victory over Robert Whittaker, which propelled him to become one of the likely contenders for the belt.
A month after his spectacular performance, ‘Stillknocks’ spoke to Submission Radio about how he’d approach the first round of their potential clash, which could prove true on August 16th.
He said: “It’s going to be absolute chaos. I don’t see him coming in with a different game plan but me neither. I’m going out there to attack. I’m going there to k- – – him.
“I’m not going out there to defend Khamzat’s takedowns. I’m going there to attack. So I think it’s going to look a little bit different.”
The then 30-year-old pointed to Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman’s performances as the blueprint to how you should face ‘Borz’ head-on.
He praised Burns for being ‘attacking’ in the fight with Khamzat and attributed his successes, even if they didn’t result in a win, to not being ‘scared’ of the Russian’s wrestling ability.
Dricus Du Plessis believed people hadn’t seen enough of his grappling, but he made a big claim
In the interview, the MMA star was under the impression that not enough fans or pundits had seen his ability on the mat in his previous fights with the UFC.
Speaking on his performances in the cage, Dricus said: “People haven’t seen too much of my grappling and wrestling, but at the end of the day, I’m a complete MMA fighter.
“I can strike with anyone, I can grapple with anyone, I can wrestle with anyone, but when it comes to putting it all together, I’m the best in the world.”
Whether his predictions on the first round will come true remains to be seen, but the world will find out when the pair finally put on the gloves and step into the Octagon to battle it out.