Plessis just re-entered the
UFC middleweight championship picture almost by default.
The South African suffered a lopsided decision loss to Khamzat
Chimaev in their title clash at
UFC 319 last August, so one could excuse him if he was cheering
for Sean
Strickland on Saturday night. Strickland delivered in a big
way, upsetting Chimaev via split decision to reclaim the 185-pound
belt in the UFC 328
headliner at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Du Plessis, of course, is 2-0 against Strickland. “Stillknocks”
captured 185-pound gold with a split-decision triumph over
Strickland at UFC 297 in January 2024, and he successfully defended
the strap with a more convincing five-round verdict in their
rematch at UFC 312 in February 2025.
Just As He Expected
Du Plessis reacted to Strickland’s win on the
UFC’s Instagram account, claiming that he expected his rival to
perform the way he did against the Chechen grappler.
“Fight went exactly the way I thought it would,” Du Plessis said.
“Great, great fight by Strickland. Like I said, it’s so hard to
keep that man on the ground. He is incredibly tough to hold down.
He made Khamzat tired, and that’s exactly what happened. I knew,
and like I said in the standup [Khamzat] just won’t be able to hang
with him.
“Congratulations. I guess this makes me world champion again.”
Du Plessis hasn’t competed since his loss to Chimaev at UFC 319.
The former KSW champion was victorious in his first eight Octagon
appearances, besting the likes of Darren Till,
Derek
Brunson, Robert
Whittaker, Strickland (twice) and Israel
Adesanya along the way. While there has been no news regarding
Du Plessis’ return, he did seem to indicate an announcement was on
the horizon when he wrote “See y’all soon” in the caption of an
April 28 Instagram post.