Dricus Du Plessis wants to beat Darren Till at UFC 282, then go after Till’s teammate.
Looking to continue his assent up the middleweight ladder, Du Plessis (17-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) meets Till (18-4-1 MMA, 6-4-1 UFC) on the Dec. 10 main card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Till’s teammate, Khamzat Chimaev, is eyeing an immediate title shot at newly crowned UFC 185-pound champ Alex Pereira. Du Plessis doesn’t think it’s fair for Chimaev to jump the line and said he would be happy to welcome him back to middleweight after fighting Till.
“I think a lot of people would be very very disappointed if that happened,” Du Plessis told The Schmo. “I mean, it takes away a lot of credibility of matchmaking. It takes all the credibility away from rankings, and I think he needs to prove himself at 185. He’s never even beaten any ranked opponent at 185. So I mean, I would gladly love to beat ‘Smesh Bro No. 1,’ and after this fight get ‘Smesh Bro No. 2.'”
If former champ Israel Adesanya doesn’t get a rematch with Pereira after his loss to him in November, du Plessis thinks former middleweight titleholder Robert Whittaker should be next in line for a title shot. Whittaker faces Paulo Costa at UFC 284 on Feb. 11 and du Plessis expects him to emerge victorious.
“I think to keep the division alive, to give a guy like Robert Whittaker the chance, that’s where my mind is at, and that’s a fight I would love to see,” du Plessis said. “Is Izzy just Whittaker’s Kryptonite, or is Robert Whittaker not good enough to be the champion? I do think that Izzy’s style was just a Kryptonite for Whittaker’s style and I do think that Whittaker can beat Pereira.”
