Khamzat Chimaev's usual gameplan could fail against Dricus du Plessis, predicts ex-UFC champion: "The Mayweather of MMA" 

Khamzat Chimaev is likely next for Dricus du Plessis after an impressive unanimous decision victory over Sean Strickland at UFC 312. Previewing the potential middleweight title fight, Aljamain Sterling sided with the champion over the undefeated Chechen.

Speaking on the recent episode of The Weekly Scraps, the former bantamweight champion made a wild claim, comparing du Plessis to the retired undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., saying:

"I'm starting to feel like Dricus is the Mayweather of MMA bro of the middleweight division. Like there's just oh like how can you bet against this guy at this point? It's a hard sell bet against this guy."

Previewing the potential fight between du Plessis and Chimaev, Sterling felt the Chechen's usual fighting style wouldn't be as effective against the South African, saying:

"Khamzat [Chimaev] is a, he's a bulldozer, but Khamzat's gonna need to get him [Dricus du Plessis] out of there in the first round. I think if he lets that fight get out of the first and he goes crazy like he normally does, that's a bad place to be with a guy like Dricus, who just keeps going up as the fight's progressing [over] 25 minutes."

Sterling also pointed out that Dricus du Plessis' physicality would play a big part in the potential fight, citing it as the reason that would prevent Chimaev from employing his usual game plan.

Check out Aljamain Sterling's comments about Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev below (17:38):

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Aljamain Sterling reveals conflicting feelings predicting Khamzat Chimaev vs. Dricus du Plessis

Despite providing a good preview of the potential Khamzat Chimaev vs. Dricus du Plessis title fight, Aljamain Sterling was confused when asked to predict the winner.

The former bantamweight champion revealed his heart points to one but his brain is saying the other. Moreover, Sterling compared the situation to when Merab Dvalishvili, his close friend, defended the bantamweight title against Umar Nurmagomedov.

"This is going to be a very tough fight. I don't know who I'm leaning towards on that. My heart says Khamzat, but my brain says Dricus, the more proven, fought more consistently, been in the tougher situations. I feel like that's a lot to weigh on that. It's almost like Merab versus Umar. Like one is proven, one hasn't really fought the best of the best." [21:19 onwards in the aforementioned podcast]

Sterling's comparison is spot on as Robert Whittaker is the only top middleweight contender Khamzat Chimaev has fought. The situation is similar to Umar Nurmagomedov, whose only victory over a top-ranked contender before the title fight against Merab Dvalishvili, was against Cory Sandhagen.