Dricus du Plessis tells his side of the story about why Khamzat Chimaev fight could not be booked for UFC 312

Dricus du Plessis clarified that he did not play a role in Khamzat Chimaev not receiving a middleweight title shot. The South African fighter is set to attempt his second middleweight title defense against Sean Strickland in the UFC 312 main event, scheduled for Feb. 9, 2025, in Sydney, Australia.

Many fans believed that Chimaev, who scored a convincing first-round submission victory over former champion Robert Whittaker to insert his name in the title picture, deserved a shot at the title. In a recent interview with mainevent, du Plessis explained his perspective on why Chimaev's name was not finalized for the title shot:

"It was on the table, for sure. We talked about it but it wasn't from my side, or, from his side where the fight didn't happen. I think there were some issues with the UFC and Khamzat. I'm not sure. And the timing, I think the timing also played a big role. But there were conversations and I said that's the fight I want. Let's do it and they couldn't make it happen. So, Strickland is the fight they did."

When asked if he is interested in fighting Chimaev at a future date, 'Stillknocks' responded, saying:

"Yes absolutely. Rumor has it that Khamzat will be in attendance for the fight against Strickland on the 8th of February. I don't know how true that is, but if that's the case, I guess that's going to be the next fight."

Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments below (1:54):

du Plessis won the middleweight title from Strickland with a split decision victory at UFC 297. He has since defended the belt against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.

Meanwhile, Strickland secured a split-decision win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302, marking his return to the win column. As of this writing, du Plessis is a -145 favorite, while Strickland is a +125 underdog for their UFC 312 rematch.