Dricus du Plessis has maintained a perfect record in the UFC, and his head coach, Morne Visser, is highly confident that Khamzat Chimaev will not be the fighter to break that streak.
During an interview with Submission Radio, Visser addressed the recent injury rumors surrounding the UFC middleweight champion, which du Plessis himself had to publicly deny. More significantly, Visser discussed Chimaev, who was partly responsible for generating that online speculation. Discussions online queried why a title defense against the undefeated Chimaev at UFC 317 on June 28 hadn`t been formally announced, but du Plessis and his camp have consistently stated that the fight was never officially scheduled.
Should the anticipated clash eventually happen, Visser foresees du Plessis defending his title successfully once more, specifically by defeating Chimaev in the wrestling and ground fighting aspects where Chimaev is often considered dominant.
“Khamzat’s a wrestler,” Visser commented. “We want to fight him on the floor. That’s the only way to prove that you’re a real champion. Beat the guys—It’s MMA, it’s not boxing, it’s not wrestling, it’s not grappling, so you’ve got to fight. If you think you’re better than the other guy as an MMA fighter, you’ve got to fight him obviously where you’re good at, but we’re good everywhere. Dricus can wrestle, grapple, his ground-and-pound is good, submission is good, his standup’s phenomenal, we showed in the last fight. Still not where I want it to be, still not the Dricus that shows up in the gym and is a 10 out of 10 fighter. He was a seven out of 10 with the Strickland fight, but he did bring it home. He brought it home. He won all five rounds. So yeah, we want to fight Khamzat on the floor. That’s the plan.”
Visser went on to challenge Chimaev`s perceived ground dominance, stating, “What has he done? Look at—he fought [Gilbert] Burns, Gilbert puts the effort in, he’s actually a lightweight. Kamaru [Usman] really gave him a proper run for his money with no preparation on the wrestling side, so that’s where we want to fight him. I believe he’s training with bigger guys now to get strength. It’s not going to help him. He needs to fight. It’s not grappling or wrestling, it is a fight. That’s what we want to do. We want to fight him on the floor and break him up in pieces on the floor. He’s just one of those annoying guys. I’ve never had an issue with [Israel Adesanya] or any one of the fighters. This guy is just annoying… I’ve had my eyes on him for a long time and Dricus is going to finish him on the floor and [Chimaev] doesn’t believe it, he doesn’t think it. That’s where we want to fight him, on the floor.”
Visser expressed particular irritation at the suggestion that du Plessis would withdraw from a fight without a valid reason, pointing to his athlete`s consistent and active fight schedule. Du Plessis captured the UFC middleweight title in January 2024, defended it in August, and successfully defended it again in February of the following year.
In stark contrast, Chimaev has become known for his infrequent appearances, having competed only once per year since 2022. However, when he does step into the octagon, he continues to impress, most recently securing a significant submission victory over former UFC champion Robert Whittaker.
“It’s actually ridiculous how many times [Chimaev] pulled out,” Visser remarked pointedly. “If you look at just his last six fights or his last six supposed fights, he pulled out of three of them. Then he fought [Kevin] Holland where he was overweight. He fought Kamaru on ten days’ notice and I think Kamaru gave him a proper run for his money, ten days’ notice. I don’t know why Kamaru never asked for a rematch there.
He further criticized Chimaev`s win over Whittaker: “And then his one over Robert was also kind of ridiculous because Robert went in that fight with broken teeth, which Dricus did, Dricus broke [Whittaker’s] jaw and his teeth. So what has he done? I don’t even think he deserves a title shot. So he shouldn’t say anything. He should just walk up, get his hiding, so he can get this over and done with.”
Candidly, another reason for Visser`s hesitation to declare Chimaev the undisputed next challenger for du Plessis is Chimaev`s recurring history of fight cancellations. While Chimaev has publicly dealt with health issues, including a severe case of COVID-19 in 2020 that may have led to lingering effects, Visser suspects that other factors also contribute to his inactivity.
“That’s his thing, his thing is pulling out,” Visser stated plainly. “He likes to be a movie star. Look at his career. I think he fought three times in the last three years. Dricus has fought three times in the last just over a year. I think over 13, 14 months we fought three fights and all three were title fights. It was two five-rounders and a four-rounder, all hard fights, title fights. [Chimaev] has fought three times in the last three years, so he’s all about the show. I don’t think he really wants to do this. He’s a movie star.”
