Dricus du Plessis to fight Khamzat Chimaev or Israel Adesanya at UFC 300? Exploring the champion's future fights

Dricus du Plessis made MMA history with his victory over Sean Strickland in the headlining matchup of UFC 297 on Jan. 20, 2024. After a back-and-forth five-round war, du Plessis secured a split decision victory on the judges' scorecards.

'Stillknocks' thereby dethroned Strickland to become the UFC middleweight champion, and he earned the distinction of being the first South African UFC champion.

During his post-fight octagon interview at UFC 297, du Plessis proceeded to call out his longtime rival, MMA megastar and former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. He stated:

"There was another guy who tried to take my shine, he lost his shine. Now I have your shine. You didn't get into the cage tonight, but Israel Adesanya, get your a** back in the UFC so we can settle the score!"

Watch du Plessis' call-out below (4:50):

It's believed that du Plessis was referring to the fact that he was expected to face Adesanya during the latter's title reign. They'd even engaged in a heated face-off at UFC 290. Their much-awaited fight was set to take place at UFC 293 in September 2023. However, injury issues forced him out of that matchup.

Strickland replaced him and beat Adesanya via unanimous decision to win the title at UFC 293. Following that, du Plessis beat Strickland at UFC 297, is now the new divisional kingpin, and has challenged 'The Last Stylebender' to fight him next.

Intriguingly, after losing to Strickland last September, Adesanya announced that he's taking a break from professional MMA competition and could be out till 2027. Nevertheless, he later clarified that his hiatus won't last that long and he could return much earlier than initially expected.

All things considered, Adesanya has addressed the South African's call-out, and he's posted the following to his Instagram Stories:

"Never stole shine. Never lost mine!!"

Israel Adesanya's response to Dricus du Plessis

Meanwhile, undefeated UFC welterweight and middleweight phenom Khamzat Chimaev also weighed in on du Plessis' win at UFC 297. A tweet by 'Borz' featured a video of himself saying that it's his time now and seemingly warning the champion not to "run too much."

In another tweet, the fearsome grappling savant implied that he could be du Plessis' next opponent, possibly at UFC 300. Chimaev tweeted:

"See you soon biplisi ufc300"

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Dricus du Plessis' next fight: 'Stillknocks' addresses possible return at UFC 300

During the UFC 297 post-fight press conference, Dricus du Plessis was questioned about the possibility of him defending his UFC middleweight title against Israel Adesanya at the landmark UFC 300 event.

'Stillknocks' responded by lightheartedly acknowledging that he took considerable facial damage at UFC 297. He opined that it'd be tough to make such a quick turnaround, but he's open to facing 'The Last Stylebender' at UFC 300.

Check out du Plessis' comments below (1:18:04):

Dricus du Plessis explained that he'd love to pursue double-champ status, going for a title in another weight class. Nevertheless, he asserted that he'll do what the UFC organization needs and would face deserving top-tier contenders like Adesanya.

'Stillknocks' further insinuated that Strickland didn't deserve a title shot against Adesanya but beat him fortuitously. In regard to whether he was suggesting that Chimaev is an undeserving challenger, du Plessis appeared to brush off his call-out and said:

"Yeah, but he said that to Jon Jones. I mean, who takes that guy [Chimaev] seriously anyways?"

Check out du Plessis' assessment below:

As of this writing, the UFC hasn't announced Dricus du Plessis, Israel Adesanya, and Khamzat Chimaev's respective next opponents. Furthermore, it's also unclear whether or not any of them are booked to compete on the UFC 300 fight card.