Khabib Nurmagomedov previews Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev clash at UFC 319, shares fighting advice for 'Borz'

Khabib Nurmagomedov recently shared his thoughts on the Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev fight. He also shared some advice for 'Borz' while acknowledging the South African fighter's skills and experience.

Chimaev is set to challenge du Plessis for the middleweight championship at UFC 319 next month. The event will go down at the United Center in Chicago. Ahead of their highly anticipated clash, Nurmagomedov shared his two cents on how Chimaev should approach the fight and advised the Chechen-born fighter to focus on striking with his opponent.

In an interview with Adam Zubayraev, the former lightweight champion previewed the upcoming middleweight title fight and said:

"He [Dricus] is an interesting opponent. He’s very tough. He’s gonna scrap, kind of an unorthodox kickboxer... What's good, or rather what's bad about du Plessis, is that] he’s not very accurate, but throws a lot. He’s always throwing hands and legs constantly. Always attacking. Even against [Sean] Strickland, I really misjudged that fight... He throws a ton of volume and doesn’t stand still."

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Nurmagomedov continued:

"Personally, I would advise Khamzat to strike with him. If you put them in straight boxing, Khamzat is better. Pure boxing-wise, that is my opinion... You can try to force things early in the first two rounds, but if you don’t finish him, you’ll burn a lot of energy. And later, you'll need it in the championship rounds."

Former UFC champion previews Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev title fight

Ex-UFC champion Luke Rockhold recently shared his two cents on the upcoming Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev fight. Rockhold questioned Chimaev's durability and gas tank if the fight went into the championship rounds, while lauding du Plessis' tenacity.

In an interview with Submission Radio, Rockhold predicted that the fight would progressively get tougher for Chimaev as the fight went on and said:

"He is a f**king beast. He's going to put on relentless pressure. He's going to start fast and hard. Can Dricus take that? Take that first two rounds... [If the fight progresses to the later round] I don't like those opportunities for him. I've trained with DDP a lot, he is tough, he is not going to go away."

He continued:

"You've got to dominate him from start to finish, or you've got to finish him early. I just don't see how Khamzat is going to keep that pressure. His intensity can only... you can only keep that for so long. That's not five-round material."

Catch Luke Rockhold's comments below (10:57):

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Edited by Nishant Zende.