When Dricus du Plessis speculated on the version of Conor McGregor that would've beaten Khabib Nurmagomedov: "He made him look like an amateur” 

Dricus du Plessis is a self-proclaimed fan of Conor McGregor and once speculated which version of the Irishman he believed could have defeated Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Back in April 2024, following his UFC middleweight title win over Sean Strickland, 'Stillknocks' appeared on the Shadow Banned podcast. During their chat, they covered a host of topics, which included Conor McGregor during his peak in the UFC.

Du Plessis then stated that the best example of McGregor's brilliance in the octagon was when he faced Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in 2016. 'The Notorious' dominated the fight from the off and put on perhaps the performance of his career as he dismantled Alvarez, finishing him in the second round to win the lightweight title and achieve double champ status.

According to the South African, he believes the 2016 version of McGregor would have been able to defeat any fighter, including Khabib Nurmagomedov. Whilst the Irishman would ultimately end up losing to 'The Eagle' two years later, Dricus du Plessis is confident it would have had a different outcome if the bout happened earlier. He explained:

"[McGregor's] fight against Alvarez...Look at that fight, it was flawless. He didn't do anything wrong. He fought one of the greatest fighters in the world and made him look like an amateur...I think he [The Conor McGregor that faced Eddie Alvarez] beats Khabib."

Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments here (1:20:25):

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Dricus du Plessis responds to Alex Pereira allegedly 'hating' him

Dricus du Plessis has responded to Sean Strickland's latest claim, which saw 'Tarzan' state that Alex Pereira isn't a fan of the middleweight champion.

Ahead of their UFC 312 main event bout this weekend, Strickland revealed during an interview on media day that Pereira would be in his corner on Saturday night as well as stating that the Brazilian dislikes du Plessis.

'Stillknocks' was then asked for his thoughts on Strickland's comments during an interview with Full Send MMA. According to the South African, Pereira's alleged hatred towards him makes zero difference to him or his gameplan on Saturday night. He said:

"[Pereira] was also in the corner in the last fight. And that doesn’t make any difference to me. And the same applies to this one. I don’t think he hates me. If he does, I don’t know why. Sometimes you see a person and you just don’t like them, maybe that’s it. Maybe he doesn’t like my face, or my attitude, I don’t know...If he hates me, I don’t care. I have enough friends already."