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Dricus Du Plessis Wants to Take the Title Off Alex Pereira: “Ultimately Be Seen as the Greatest”

Dricus Du Plessis Wants to Take the Title Off Alex Pereira: "Ultimately Be Seen as the Greatest" Dricus Du Plessis plans on becoming the greatest fighter of all time, and he believes that accomplishing his goal…

Dricus Du Plessis plans on becoming the greatest fighter of all time, and he believes that accomplishing his goal means having to go through the current light heavyweight king, Alex Pereira.

But first, ‘Stillknocks’ has some work to do this Saturday in Sydney.

Emanating from the Qudos Bank Arena in Australia, Du Plessis is scheduled to put his 185-pound crown on the line in a highly anticipated rematch with ex-champion Sean Strickland at UFC 312.

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It will be Du Plessis’ second defense of the middleweight title, the first coming in August when he submitted Israel Adesanya in the fourth round of their UFC 305 headliner.

Du Plessis knows there’s still work to be done at 185

Speaking with McKenzie Pavacich of ESPN MMA, ‘DDP’ made it clear that his goal is to eventually move up and claim the light heavyweight title, but he knows that there is still a lot of work to be done at 185 before he can go asking for a shot at champ-champ status.

“I’m still quite a bit away from actually dominating the division and being in a place where there is no competition left,” Du Plessis said. “I also want to go up and get another belt and, ultimately, be seen as the greatest fighter to ever walk this earth. That is my ultimate goal, and that is what keeps me going.”

If Du Plessis comes out on top in The Land Down Under, he’ll move his record to 9-0 under the UFC banner while simultaneously going two-up on Strickland inside the Octagon.

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Dricus Du Plessis Wants to Take the Title Off Alex Pereira: “Ultimately Be Seen as the Greatest”

Dricus Du Plessis plans on becoming the greatest fighter of all time, and he believes that accomplishing his goal…

Dricus Du Plessis plans on becoming the greatest fighter of all time, and he believes that accomplishing his goal means having to go through the current light heavyweight king, Alex Pereira.

But first, ‘Stillknocks’ has some work to do this Saturday in Sydney.

Emanating from the Qudos Bank Arena in Australia, Du Plessis is scheduled to put his 185-pound crown on the line in a highly anticipated rematch with ex-champion Sean Strickland at UFC 312.

It will be Du Plessis’ second defense of the middleweight title, the first coming in August when he submitted Israel Adesanya in the fourth round of their UFC 305 headliner.

Du Plessis knows there’s still work to be done at 185

“I’m still quite a bit away from actually dominating the division and being in a place where there is no competition left,” Du Plessis said. “I also want to go up and get another belt and, ultimately, be seen as the greatest fighter to ever walk this earth. That is my ultimate goal, and that is what keeps me going.”

If Du Plessis comes out on top in The Land Down Under, he’ll move his record to 9-0 under the UFC banner while simultaneously going two-up on Strickland inside the Octagon.

Sean Strickland: Dricus Du Plessis ‘Took The Coward’s Way Out’ By Submitting Israel Adesanya

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland evidently wasn’t too impressed by how rival Dricus Du Plessis had his hand raised at the expense of Israel Adesanya last year. Strickland and Du Plessis are renewing hostilities this week in Sydney, Australia, where they’ll run it back 13 months on from the South African’s title-winning victory over […]

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland evidently wasn’t too impressed by how rival Dricus Du Plessis had his hand raised at the expense of Israel Adesanya last year.

Strickland and Du Plessis are renewing hostilities this week in Sydney, Australia, where they’ll run it back 13 months on from the South African’s title-winning victory over “Tarzan” in Canada.

Since then, Du Plessis has successfully defended the gold on one occasion, submitting Adesanya with a face crank in round four of the UFC 305 main event in Perth last August. Strickland, meanwhile, earned his shot at redemption with a five-round performance against Paulo Costa that was widely branded lackluster.

With that in mind, “Stillknocks” has been touting his evolution as a fighter across the past 12 months, claiming to have grown more as an athlete than Strickland since they last collided.

During a recent interview with Fox Sports Australia, the polaziring American responded to those remarks. Suffice to say, he does not agree…

“I don’t know about that,” Strickland said. “Dude, you fought Izzy, and Izzy was beating you in striking. I dog walked Izzy. Don’t get too excited, Izzy. I mean that in a striking sense. Maybe you (Du Plessis) might wrestle a little bit more.

“It was good dude…he took the guy down again. He took the coward’s way out, real bad,” Strickland continued. “He’s supposed to be a strong South African, but wants to wrestle him. Real bad, dude. At the end of the day, he fought well, but you’re gonna let the Chinaman beat you in striking, which we all remember. … I don’t like to wrestle. I’m a grown ass man. I do the right things. I stand and strike.”

Those comments are not surprising given the lead-up to Saturday’s UFC 312 pay-per-view, which has seen the challenger lay down a striking-only challenge to Du Plessis.

Given how quick the South African was to shut that down, Strickland’s takedown defense could be tested come fight night at Qudos Bank Arena.

Tatiana Suarez Shuts Down Flyweight Talk, Focused on Strawweight Domination: “Beat Everyone”

With her first UFC title fight right around the corner, Tatiana Suarez isn’t thinking about anything else. The undefeated…

With her first UFC title fight right around the corner, Tatiana Suarez isn’t thinking about anything else.

The undefeated standout from Covina, California will step into the co-main event spotlight at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia this Saturday for a clash with reigning and defending strawweight world champion Zhang Weili.

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Suarez goes into her first shot at UFC gold with a perfect 7-0 inside the Octagon, and 10-0 overall. That includes back-to-back second-round submission victories over Montana De La Rosa and Jessica Andrade in her last two outings. She also holds finishes over former UFC champions Alexa Grasso and Carla Esparza.

Speaking with CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri ahead of her big night in The Land Down Under, Suarez was asked about potentially moving up to flyweight, should she succeed in dethroning Zhang and bringing the strawweight strap back to the States.

“I want to stay in my division, be the best in the world and beat everyone who comes up,” Suarez said. “Eventually, if I feel like moving up to 125 pounds is something I want to do, then yeah, we’ll go there. But I’m not really thinking that far ahead right now.”

Zhang weili eyes history-making performance against tatiana suarez

For now, Suarez would be best served to focus on the task at hand. And it’s a mighty tough task as only one woman has ever defeated Zhang Weili inside the Octagon. That being former two-time strawweight queen ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas.

Since taking the title off the aforementioned Carla Esparza via a second-round submission in November 2022, ‘Magnum’ has looked practically unstoppable, scoring dominant wins over Amanda Lemos and Yan Xianon in her last two title defenses.

If Zhang comes out on top against Suarez, she’ll officially tie Joanna J?drzejczyk for the most title fight wins in UFC strawweight history. Not to mention, she’ll take Suarez’s ‘O’ which would be a pretty nice feather in the cap of the Chinese superstar.

Tatiana Suarez Shuts Down Flyweight Talk, Focused on Strawweight Domination: “Beat Everyone”

With her first UFC title fight right around the corner, Tatiana Suarez isn’t thinking about anything else. The undefeated…

With her first UFC title fight right around the corner, Tatiana Suarez isn’t thinking about anything else.

“I want to stay in my division, be the best in the world and beat everyone who comes up,” Suarez said. “Eventually, if I feel like moving up to 125 pounds is something I want to do, then yeah, we’ll go there. But I’m not really thinking that far ahead right now.”

Zhang weili eyes history-making performance against tatiana suarez

Chael Sonnen Drops Bomb: Khamzat Chimaev Is the UFC 312 Backup Fighter

According to our dear old Uncle Chael, Khamzat Chimaev is set to be the official backup for this Saturday’s…

According to our dear old Uncle Chael, Khamzat Chimaev is set to be the official backup for this Saturday’s middleweight championship headliner in The Land Down Under.

Emanating from the Quodos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, reigning 185-pound titleholder Dricus Du Plessis is set to put his gold on the line against Sean Strickland in a rematch more than a year in the making.

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Initially, reports claimed that there was no backup in place in case either Strickland or ‘DDP’ found themselves unable to compete ahead of Fight Night. However, ‘The American Gangster’ is claiming otherwise.

“I think Chimaev is the backup fighter,” Sonnen said in a recent video on YouTube. “I don’t believe he’s just the number one contender. The timing of this fight makes it hard to believe they wouldn’t have him booked as a backup.”

Thus far, the UFC has not confirmed whether or not a backup will be in place.

The UFC is unlikely to confirm Khamzat Chimaev’s status as a backup until weigh-ins

With ‘Borz’ being the next man in line — though Nassourdine Imavov may have something to say about that now — for a shot at the division’s top prize, his being offered the backup gig makes sense. Unfortunately, we’ll probably have to wait until Friday to find out whether or not Chimaev is expected to step on the scale.

UFC 312’s showdown between Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland will be the second-ever meeting between the two, the first coming around this same time last year when ‘DDP’ dethroned the outspoken American via split decision to become the 14th fighter in UFC history to claim the middleweight strap.