“Best s**t” fighter” Dricus du Plessis’ concerning MMA deficiencies outlined by former UFC champion: "Technical holes” 

Khamzat Chimaev dominated Dricus du Plessis on the ground for five straight rounds to win the middleweight championship at UFC 319. A former champion is now convinced that, as unorthodox as 'Stillknocks'' style is, he has concerning vulnerabilities in his overall MMA game.

During a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Kamaru Usman, Henry Cejudo, and Reinier de Ridder delved deep into Chimaev's wrestling domination over the South African, and 'The Dutch Knight' was quick to point out how incompetent du Plessis was at getting out of the referee's position.

For context, a referee position is a wrestling starting stance implemented after a break in action, where the bottom wrestler is on their hands and knees, while the top wrestler tries to control their opponent's arms and elbows, to prevent them from getting back up.

Upon de Ridder's critique, former UFC welterweight champion Usman jumped in, highlighting how du Plessis' unconventional attributes matter little when he has gaping technical holes:

"DDP, there is that running joke where they say he is the best s**t fighter. He is really good, very, very talented. Clearly, he hits hard, and he is just a guy that won't quit, won't go away, but this fight... he didn't have the opportunity to be tough. It was a technical error, technical skills that he just didn't have to be able to escape those positions and potentially make it a dog fight. He just didn't have it."

Usman added:

"Listen. I'm not here just kind of s**t on DDP, he is very, very tough. He is very, very talented. But, those were technical errors to where you can't have technical holes like that to be the world champion."

Check out Kamaru Usman's comments on Dricus du Plessis below (12:57):

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Kamaru Usman critiques Khamzat Chimaev's grappling against Dricus du Plessis

Kamaru Usman believes, despite Khamzat Chimaev's wrestling domination against Dricus du Plessis, 'Borz' made little effort to finish the fight.

Reverting to Reinier de Ridder's critique of du Plessis' inability to deal with the referee's position, 'The Nigerian Nightmare' pointed out that Chimaev was content with just holding on to the position rather than advancing and hunting for a finish.

Usman added that he would have acted much differently in the Chechen-born Emirati's shoes, saying:

"The one thing with Khamzat Chimaev is, Khamzat really wasn't even putting forward pressure on him... I think it is such a big key... that separates me is I'm going to put that pressure to where you're not even going to want to get to the referee's position anymore. Either you are going to give me that, or eventually give me your back and potentially give me the choke."