Dricus Du Plessis says he could be fighting at light heavyweight shortly after UFC 297

Dricus Du Plessis is saying he could be fighting at light heavyweight shortly after UFC 297.

UFC 297 will take place on Saturday, January 20th at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario.

The main event heavyweight title fight will feature current champion Sean Strickland (28-5 MMA) going up against Dricus Du Plessis (20-2 MMA).

Strickland, 32, last fought and defeated Israel Adesanya (24-3 MMA) this past September at UFC 293 to claim the crown.

Dricus Du Plessis, 29, has won 6 in a row under the UFC banner, his latest TKO victory coming against Robert Whittaker (24-7 MMA) this past July at UFC 290.

‘Stillknocks’ spoke with ‘Submission Radio’ about his plans following UFC 297 saying:

“That all depends how the division opens up. I would still love to fight Israel Adesanya. 100 percent it would be my first choice as a defense. It would be great but I’m assuming Khamzat (Chimaev) is the guy they’re gonna try and push. So that would be cool (too). I do want to defend my belt before — obviously, it’s all gonna come down to who I beat and how good I make it look.”

Continuing, Dricus Du Plessis said:

“If I go out there and I absolutely destroy Khamzat, what’s there really left? If I go out there and I beat Israel Adesanya after becoming champion, what is there really — it’s wiped out the whole division. The two guys who wiped out the division were Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya, and beating those two guys doesn’t really leave any room left.”

As for his upcoming fight with ‘Tarzan’ this coming January, a confident Du Plessis continued:

“I have my style of fighting and he has his style of fighting. In our fight, it’s going to be the guy who imposes his will and fights his fight the best. That’s going to be the winner and that’s going to be me.”

“His defense is ugly. It’s very weird but it’s effective. I think he deflects shots beautifully and I think irritating is a good style. It’s always pushing something out there and it’s such a different style. I don’t think he has that crazy knockout power, but he does have qualities. If you’re fighting on his pace, I promise you you’re going to lose that fight.”

Concluding, the South African said:

“If you’re going to fight his pace, and Israel Adesanya fought his pace. He walks forward. He makes people tentative sometimes because he’s slipping punches all the time. With that being said, I don’t think to fight his pace is a smart move. I know I’m more athletic. I know I’m stronger physically and using that to my advantage, making sure I hit harder but making sure that every shot I throw lands… I need one shot. I need to land one shot. If (Alex) Pereira can knock him out, I can knock him out even better.”

Will you be putting you money on Dricus Du Plessis or Sean Strickland this coming January at UFC 297?

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