Dricus Du Plessis is solely focused on defending his title against Sean Strickland at UFC 312, so he “did make much” of Islam Makhachev’s comments about a potential move to middleweight.
Following this past weekend’s lightweight title defense against Renato Moicano at UFC 311, Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) said he thinks he’s capable of winning UFC belts in three divisions. He specifically mentioned Du Plessis at 185 pounds as a fight he wouldn’t hesitate to accept, despite seemingly being much smaller in stature.
Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC), who will attempt to retain his title against the man he took it from 13 months ago in Strickland on the Feb. 8 card at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney (ESPN+, ESPN2/Disney+, ESPN+), has not given Makhachev’s comments much thought, he said. However, he can only see one scenario where that type of champ-vs-champ fight ever comes together.
“I guess, good on him for trying that,” Du Plessis told FOX Sports Australia. “He won’t get that fight now – it wouldn’t make sense. But if there should ever be a time where there is nobody to challenge me, nobody for him to challenge. Yeah, cool.”
Although he respects the confidence and ambition of Makhachev, it’s hard for Du Plessis to get past what he thinks would be a rather sizeable edge in size over the Dagestan product, who has won 15 consecutive UFC fights.
“Look, he trains with 185ers in his gym,” Du Plessis said. “But there is only one world champion. So kudos to him for saying what he did, but it doesn’t really matter because I’ll overpower him in any situation.
“I know he walks around heavy. But I walk around heavy. He’s a big lightweight, I’m a big middleweight. There’s a big difference there.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.
