Dricus du Plessis only beats fighters out of their prime: Breaking down UFC middleweight's comment about tell-tale flaw in the South African's resume

Brendan Allen recently voiced his opinion on Dricus du Plessis' resume and claimed that the South African fighter has avoided facing opponents in their prime.

Ahead of his middleweight rematch against Anthony Hernandez at UFC Seattle this weekend, Allen addressed journalists during a media day scrum and shared his thoughts on du Plessis' resume. The No.9-ranked middleweight contender said:

"He fights these guys that have such a great name, but look at the timeline that he fights them. He's fighting them when they're not really motivated or on their way out or just father time is getting them."

'Stillknocks' is on an impressive 11-fight win streak and has beaten middleweight juggernauts like Robert Whittaker, Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya in his last five outings. While Allen believes the South African fighter is cherry-picking opponents in the twilight of their career, that may not be precisely accurate.

Before facing du Plessis in a 185-pound title eliminator at UFC 290 in July 2023, Whittaker dominated Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris the year before that. Given his status as ex-champion of the division, Whittaker was widely backed to defeat du Plessis and earn another title shot. However, du Plessis surprisingly blitzed Whittaker and won a title shot against Strickland via a second-round knockout.

After beating Whittaker, du Plessis faced Strickland for the middleweight title. Strickland was notably coming off a dominant title win over Adesanya and was riding high on a three-fight win streak. However, after a razor-sharp split decision, du Plessis took home UFC gold. This set the stage for a highly anticipated du Plessis-Adesanya clash at UFC 305 in August last year.

Adesanya is widely considered to be the second-best middleweight of all time and had only suffered losses against Whittaker and Strickland before facing du Plessis. Given his dominance in the division, many believed his defensive striking could be the key to beating du Plessis. However, Adesanya struggled against du Plessis and ultimately suffered a fourth-round submission loss.

At UFC 312 earlier this month, du Plessis faced Strickland in a rematch and dominated the American over five rounds to solidify his status as the division's kingpin. Considering that 'Stillknocks' has beaten some of the most dangerous middleweights in the UFC with relative ease, it's hard to come to terms with Allen's opinion on his resume.

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Dricus du Plessis talks Khamzat Chimaev's perceived intimidating demeanor

Dricus du Plessis recently shared his thoughts on a potential Khamzat Chimaev fight and commented on the Chechen-born fighter seemingly having an intimidating aura around him given his dominant performances in the cage.

In an interview with Ariel Helwani, du Plessis shared his two cents on Chimaev potentially being his next opponent and spoke about his "Boogeyman" status. He said:

''No, I just don't care really, he's [Chimaev] a big name. I think after the Whittaker win, sure why not... People think of Khamzat as this boogeyman. That's a fact. I don't. I don't see that. For me, I only see one thing. That's the potential to do good to my legacy. The potential to make my legacy even better."