Tag: dricus du plessis

Dricus Du Plessis Threatens He Will Sleep Both Alex Pereira and Sean Strickland

Dricus Du Plessis Threatens He Will Sleep Both Alex Pereira and Sean StricklandDricus Du Plessis plans to “sleep” both Alex Pereira and Sean Strickland and he’s happy to let them decide…

Dricus Du Plessis Threatens He Will Sleep Both Alex Pereira and Sean Strickland

Dricus Du Plessis plans to “sleep” both Alex Pereira and Sean Strickland and he’s happy to let them decide which one goes night-night first.

After earning a win over Strickland in January to win the UFC middleweight title, ‘DDP’ scored his first successful defense last month, besting Israel Adesanya in Perth via a fourth-round submission victory via RNC.

Dricus Du Plessis

Immediately following the win, Pereira, who held the 185-pound title before moving up to light heavyweight, revealed his plan to move back down to middleweight one last time to challenge Du Plessis. While a rematch with Strickland is almost certainly up next for Du Plessis, the South African star is more than happy to beat down both fighters.

As for who’s first, he doesn’t really care.

Dricus Du Plessis

“@AlexPereiraUFC you and you boyfriend @SStricklandMMA can have a domestic dispute on who gets slept first,” Du Plessis wrote on X.

Du Plessis vs. Strickland 2 is on the horizon as Pereira marches toward his third title defense of 2024

With Alex Pereira already booked for his third title defense of 2024 on October 5 and Strickland choosing to sit out until he gets his rematch with Du Plessis, the likeliest scenario is that we’ll see ‘DDP’ vs. Strickland 2 going down sometime in early 2025.

The two first met last January at UFC 297 when ‘Tarzan’ entered the bout as the middleweight champion. The pair delivered an entertaining five-round scrap that saw ‘DDP’ walk away with the win via a very close and highly contestable split decision.

Dricus Du Plessis

Strickland lobbied for an immediate rematch but was forced to go back down the rankings and get another win first. He did exactly that in June, defeating Paulo Costa at UFC 302.

Dricus Du Plessis

Alex Pereira Plans Move to 185 to Take Middleweight Crown From Dricus du Plessis

Alex Pereira Plans Move to 185 to Take Middleweight Crown From Dricus du PlessisAlex Pereira already has a light heavyweight title defense lined up for next month, but that isn’t stopping ‘Poatan’…

Alex Pereira Plans Move to 185 to Take Middleweight Crown From Dricus du Plessis

Alex Pereira already has a light heavyweight title defense lined up for next month, but that isn’t stopping ‘Poatan’ from chomping at the bit to challenge middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.

In August, ‘DDP’ scored his first successful defense of the 185-pound crown, submitting Israel Adesanya in the fourth round of their UFC 305 headliner in Perth. Chances are, a rematch with the man he took the title from earlier this year, Sean Strickland, is next on his itinerary, but could we see ‘Poatan’ sneak in and snatch the opportunity away from ‘Tarzan’ in 2025?

Alex Pereira and Dricus Du Plessis

Immediately after Du Plessis defeated Adesanya, Pereira teased a potential return to middleweight for a showdown with the South African star.

However, Du Plessis was quick to quiet talk of a clash with ‘Poatan’ at 185. Instead, ‘Stillknocks’ likes the idea of moving up to light heavyweight and challenging Pereira for his light heavyweight strap.

“You don’t have to cut the weight so you have some sort of excuse,” Du Plessis said during the UFC 305 post-fight presser. “I’ll come up after the Strickland fight. I’ll come up to 205 and we’ll sort it out there.”

Alex Pereira doubles down on one final move to 185

Responding to Du Plessis’ comment, Pereira doubled down on his desire to venture back down to 185 one final time in hopes of kickstarting yet another title reign.

Alex Pereira and Dricus Du Plessis

“I’m focused on my next fight and I’m going prepared but you never know what can happen, so regardless of the result I want to go down one more time to the middleweight and go for the belt,” Pereira wrote on Instagram. “Hey Dricus, bring your will to fight me so you can prove that you re better than me, with your public statement it is easy to make this happen, Chama.”

Pereira, of course, claimed the middleweight title in late 2022 with a fifth-round knockout of Adesanya at UFC 281. ‘Poatan’ gave the title back to Adesanya five months later before moving up to 205 where he won that division’s top prize last November.

At the moment, Pereira is preparing to defend his 205-pound title for the third time in 2024 when he meets No. 8 ranked contender Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 on October 5.

Alex Pereira vs. Rountree

Pereira has already scored a pair of highlight-reel KOs against Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka this year.

Alex Pereira

Alex Pereira Reiterates Plan For Middleweight Return Post-UFC 307, Magomed Ankalaev Reacts With Anger

It would appear that UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira’s middleweight tease last month was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. Pereira’s first taste of title success on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage came at 185 pounds, where he unseated Israel Adesanya in late 2022. Having fallen short in his first defense, “Poatan” bid farewell to the […]

Continue Reading Alex Pereira Reiterates Plan For Middleweight Return Post-UFC 307, Magomed Ankalaev Reacts With Anger at MMA News.

It would appear that UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira’s middleweight tease last month was not a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Pereira’s first taste of title success on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage came at 185 pounds, where he unseated Israel Adesanya in late 2022. Having fallen short in his first defense, “Poatan” bid farewell to the division and ventured up to 205 pounds.

Since then, the Brazilian has tasted nothing but success, capturing the light heavyweight gold in his sophomore outing in the division last year and recording two successful defenses at the expense of Jamahal Hill and Ji?í Procházka this year.

Pereira’s next task will be dispatching the third challenger to his current reign, with the former Glory Kickboxing champion set to headline UFC 307 in Salt Lake City against Khalil Rountree early next month.

But defeating “The War Horse” isn’t the only thing on Pereira’s mind.

Prior to his next matchup being announced, “Poatan” teased a surprise return to middleweight, calling out champ Dricus Du Plessis in the immediate aftermath of his victory over Adesanya at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia in August.

Despite having business to attend to at light heavyweight for the time being, Pereira recently took to social media to reiterate that he has one eye on the South African, whom he plans on pursuing regardless of the result inside Delta Center on October 5.

“I’m focused on my next fight and I’m going prepared but you never know what can happen, so regardless of the result I want to go down one more time to the middleweight and go for the belt,” Pereira wrote. “Hey Dricus, bring your will to fight me so you can prove that you are better than me, with your public statement it is easy to make this happen, Chama ?”

Ankalaev Slams Pereira In Response To Fresh MW Ambitions: ‘You Are Weak!’

One man who was quick to take aim at Pereira for his callout of Du Plessis last month was Magomed Ankalaev, the current #2-ranked light heavyweight contender.

The Dagestani has been calling for his shot ever since the champ’s quick knockout of Hill at UFC 300. But after being passed up in favor of “BJP” this past July and the lower-ranked Rountree this fall, many have questioned the promotion’s apparent reluctance to grant Ankalaev a shot.

And although it appears that a victory over Aleksandar Raki? at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi late next month would make his claim undeniable, Pereira’s newfound ambitions of a second middleweight reign could present yet another hurdle.

That fact has unsurprisingly frustrated Ankalaev, who took to X shortly after Pereira’s post to brand him “weak” for continuing to avoid him.

“You are so weak @AlexPereiraUFC you only pick on the guys who are in lower division than you and you think you can beat them people are not stupid there is a reason why you are fighting Khalil and not me,” Ankalaev wrote.

For now, both Pereira and Ankalaev have opponents to deal with in October. Should the latter emerge victorious, calls for him to be placed opposite “Poatan” next time out will no doubt only increase.

Continue Reading Alex Pereira Reiterates Plan For Middleweight Return Post-UFC 307, Magomed Ankalaev Reacts With Anger at MMA News.

Israel Adesanya’s Coach Says Du Plessis Defeat Better Than ‘Unexplainable’ Strickland Upset: ‘It Was A Good Loss…’

For the first time in his MMA career, Israel Adesanya finds himself coming off the back of consecutive defeats inside the Octagon. This doesn’t tell the story of both the fights that took place a year apart, because though he didn’t get his hand raised on either occasion, the story of the fights were completely […]

Continue Reading Israel Adesanya’s Coach Says Du Plessis Defeat Better Than ‘Unexplainable’ Strickland Upset: ‘It Was A Good Loss…’ at MMA News.

For the first time in his MMA career, Israel Adesanya finds himself coming off the back of consecutive defeats inside the Octagon.

This doesn’t tell the story of both the fights that took place a year apart, because though he didn’t get his hand raised on either occasion, the story of the fights were completely different.

“The Last Stylebender” didn’t look himself at UFC 293 where he was shockingly upset by Sean Strickland before taking a year off to return at UFC 305.

Despite not reclaiming the title against Dricus Du Plessis, Adesanya appeared somewhat back to where he was before and looked to be gaining momentum in the fight until Du Plessis was able to capitalize on a few mistakes to earn a submission win in the fourth round.

Adesanya’s head coach at City Kickboxing, Eugene Bareman, gave his thoughts on the fight during a recent interview with Combat TV.

He came away feeling a lot more positive after this loss compared to the one from last year because they were able to learn from clear and obvious mistakes that will only lead to improvements, unlike UFC 293 which left the team scratching their heads.

“He made some mistakes which you can only, in my opinion, put down to fatigue and the fatigue, you can put down to the work that Dricus was able to do so you can’t do nothing but applaud that. It was a loss but you know, it was a good loss. Me and Israel can walk away from that loss and it’s measurable, it’s tangible. You can put that down, this is why this happened, this is why that happened. The Strickland fight is just a bit unexplainable to us. That’s much harder to get over cuz it’s like well what happened there.”

Eugene Bareman Gives Credit To Dricus Du Plessis For An Aspect Of His Game That They ‘Didn’t Anticipate’

Bareman agrees with the common consensus that heading into the fourth round, it looked like the momentum was swinging towards Adesanya in the later rounds.

However, it was Du Plessis’ finishing ability that ended up deciding the fight after he was able to wobble the former champion on the feet and take his back for the rear-naked choke win.

As he previously stated above, Bareman puts these crucial mistakes down to Adesanya being fatigued and while this is something they worked on during his training camp, the City Kickboxing boss revealed that he was surprised by how effectively the champion is able to weaponize his conditioning.

He said that Du Plessis may not be a perfect fighter but he’s always making his opponents work hard to try and capitalize on his weaknesses.

“It looks like he has some holes in his defense, he also makes you work to take advantage of those holes, you know what I mean. It’s tough work out there. Yeah, the holes are there but it’s tough work to find them and it just fatigued Israel and fatigued Israel and fatigued Israel and it slowly, slowly got to Israel to the point where he was so fatigued, Dricus was able to take advantage of it. That was probably something I didn’t anticipate happening as much as it did and I just had an expectation that Israel would be able to push through that.”

Read also: Sean Strickland Responds To Machine Gun Kelly’s ‘Big Bro Advice’ As Rapper Wanted UFC Star To Not Talk About Him Anymore

Continue Reading Israel Adesanya’s Coach Says Du Plessis Defeat Better Than ‘Unexplainable’ Strickland Upset: ‘It Was A Good Loss…’ at MMA News.

Ji?í Procházka Reiterates Plan To Move Down To Middleweight Following Dricus Du Plessis’ Title Defense

There is a realistic possibility that we could be seeing Ji?í Procházka competing in a new weight class next time out. Just as he did some time after UFC 303, Procházka continued to tease a drop down in weight in a new video on his YouTube channel. In the video, the Czech star mentions feeling […]

Continue Reading Ji?í Procházka Reiterates Plan To Move Down To Middleweight Following Dricus Du Plessis’ Title Defense at MMA News.

There is a realistic possibility that we could be seeing Ji?í Procházka competing in a new weight class next time out.

Just as he did some time after UFC 303, Procházka continued to tease a drop down in weight in a new video on his YouTube channel.

In the video, the Czech star mentions feeling ready to fight again now, but he is currently waiting for the right conditions to go into a matchup sharp in mind, body, and spirit.

The interviewer then asks Procházka about the weight he plans to return at. The former light heavyweight champion states that if Dricus Du Plessis were to win at UFC 305, he would look at the possibility of moving down to middleweight. The South African retained the middleweight championship earlier this month at UFC 305, submitting Israel Adesanya.

“I’ll clear things up a bit there and take the belt,” Procházka said. “But I feel good and strong in the light heavyweight division, even though the guys there are a bit heavier, almost all of them. So I have to say that I have no problem physically and strength-wise, or in any way, with clearing them out.

“But it would certainly be a challenge for me to go for the belt in the (middleweight) division and then move (back) up. But I’ll really let it flow and see how it unfolds.”

Ji?í Procházka Eyeing Move Down To Middleweight To Challenge Dricus Du Plessis

Procházka is coming off an unsuccessful challenge of Alex Pereira for the UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 303 in June. The result marked the second time in about seven months that the two clashed over the championship.

Pereira recently teased his own move down to middleweight to challenge Du Plessis and try to become a simultaneous two-division champion, having already held the 185-pound gold before his move up to 205 pounds.

Procházka was also asked about rumors of a potential fight with another former light heavyweight champion in Jamahal Hill. “Sweet Dreams” fell in his own challenge of “Poatan” at UFC 300 — the same card that saw Procházka finish Aleksandar Raki?.

The Czechia native poured cold water on such rumors during this interview.

“There hasn’t been any negotiation or discussion with the manager, or anyone else yet,” Procházka said. “I just sent one message regarding Hill, just as an informational note, and I’m not sure if anything has progressed or if someone let something slip. But for now, it’s all just speculation.”

Continue Reading Ji?í Procházka Reiterates Plan To Move Down To Middleweight Following Dricus Du Plessis’ Title Defense at MMA News.

Caio Borralho picks Sean Strickland to beat Dricus du Plessis: ‘Let them kill themselves and I’m next’

Caio Borralho picks Sean Strickland to beat Dricus du Plessis: 'Let them kill themselves and I'm next'Off the back of his impressive unanimous decision win over the returning former middleweight title challenger, Jared Cannonier overnight…

Caio Borralho picks Sean Strickland to beat Dricus du Plessis: 'Let them kill themselves and I'm next'

Off the back of his impressive unanimous decision win over the returning former middleweight title challenger, Jared Cannonier overnight in the main event of UFC Vegas 96, surging Brazilian contender, Caio Borralho is confident he is next in line to challenge for gold against Sean Strickland, however, is not picking against current champion, Dricus du Plessis anymore.

Borralho, who entered his first headliner under the banner of the promotion overnight as the number twelve ranked middleweight contender, managed to turn in a Fight of the Night display with perennial contender, Cannonier — en route to an impressive unanimous judging win over the course of five rounds.

caio

And extending his winning spree to an impressive seven straight fights since his landing in the UFC from Dana White’s Contender Series, Borralho has staked his claim for a shot at the middleweight crown next, with former champion, Strickland expected to take on South African star, du Plessis first and foremost.

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Caio Borralho calls for title fight after UFC Vegas 96 win

Following his win over Cannonier, Maranhao native, Borralho suggested he fight for the title in his next outing — but was unsure if he would be fighting du Plessis or challenger, Strickland.

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“I got (Sean Strickland) winning this fight [with Dricus du Plessis], because I think Strickland won the last one, but maybe he left a little bit inside the Octagon that he could do a little bit more,” Caio Borralho told assembled media after UFC Vegas 96. “But MMA is crazy. I always bet against Dricus and he always wins, so I’m not betting on the next one.”

Let those guys (Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland) kill themselves and I’m the next one [title challenger at middleweight],” Caio Borralho explained.]

Adding Cannonier to an impressive run of victories, Borralho had previously knocked out Paul Craig and submitted Michal Oleksiejczuk, to go with other impressive decisions over Armen Petrosyan, Abus Magomedov, and Makhmud Muradov to name a few.