Dricus du Plessis believes he'd be "very close" to UFC middleweight GOAT status with potential win over Khamzat Chimaev

Dricus du Plessis discusses being the middleweight GOAT. [Image courtesy: @dricusduplessis on Instagram]
Dricus du Plessis discusses being the middleweight GOAT. [Image courtesy: @dricusduplessis on Instagram]

Dricus du Plessis aims to defeat Khamzat Chimaev and solidify his legacy in the organization's middleweight division. The South African is scheduled to make his third title defense against Chimaev at UFC 319 on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago.

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Du Plessis, who has already defeated former champions such as Robert Whittaker, Sean Strickland, and Israel Adesanya, believes he will be in the 185-pound GOAT debate if he beats Chimaev this weekend. MMA Junkie recently took to X to share his comments from the media day, which stated:

''Yeah, in terms of the amount of title defenders, for sure... But when you look at the amount of defenses and you look at a guy like Anderson Silva, for example, I think Anderson Silva is the GOAT...But you have to look in also in terms of era of title defenses. Who these guys fought? Did they fight a guy with a part-time job? Did they fight full-time fighters? Was the sport ever as developed as it is right now?''
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He continued:

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''But I can't take away from any of those guys. I'm just saying in today's age of of fighting, that amount of defenses is not always possible. Right now I still have a long way to go before I'm considered as the greatest middleweight of all time...but after this fight, I'm right up there. I'm getting very close to that.''
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Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments below:

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Du Plessis has yet to suffer defeat inside the octagon. In his most recent MMA appearance at UFC 312 earlier this year, 'Stilknocks' secured a unanimous decision win in his rematch with Strickland.


Dricus du Plessis says there is no animosity between him and Khamzat Chimaev

Dricus du Plessis crossed paths with Khamzat Chimaev in the athlete hotel lobby in Chicago ahead of their title fight at UFC 319. Both fighters were respectful towards one another. Notably, many MMA fans are expecting their matchup to be a highly entertaining one.

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In the aforementioned media day, du Plessis rejected the idea of engaging in trash-talk with Chimaev at the upcoming press conference:

''And up until this point, it looks like that won't be necessary. I think it might be just about the fight, which is also great. I mean, the fight's hype is already there. It's big enough. There's no need for fake beef. There's no need to try and but if that's the route he wants to go, let's do it.''

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Edited by Swagat Kumar Jena
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