Dilemma for Dana White as Dricus du Plessis Agrees to Fight Alex Pereira in First Title Defense, Snubbing Israel Adesanya After UFC 297 Strickland Fight

With the conclusion of UFC 297, we got a new champion, Dricus du Plessis. The middleweight division has again gone into a metamorphism with the win against Sean Strickland. Du Plessis kept his undefeated status. After the fight, ‘Stillknocks’ challenged Israel Adesanya to a fight but his recent words pointed out a new opponent.

Du Plessis became the face of South African MMA after this win, becoming the first man from his country to clinch the ‘185’ lbs belt. However, du Plessis is eager to defend his title against the heavyweights of the division and in his pursuit, he has been challenged by two fighters. One is Khamzat Chimaev and the other is the former champion, Alex Pereira.

Dricus du Plessis wants to run his luck against Alex Pereira

Dricus du Plessis won against Strickland by way of a unanimous decision, however, in the process of the fight, du Plessis sustained enough damage that almost took his left eye. Nonetheless, now he wants to run against Alex Pereira.

After du Plessis’s win, Alex Pereira took to his Instagram account to add a rather challenging comment directed towards the new middleweight champion. He wrote, “Maybe one last rodeo at the middleweight”. Pereira is the light heavyweight champion and seems like he will be stepping into the middleweight territory to again assert his dominance.

In response to Pereira’s challenge, du Plessis took to his Instagram handle to add a comment. He added a story reporting Pereira’s challenge and captioned it as “@alexpoatanpereira I dare you would be an honour sharing the cage with you”. 

Read More: Emotional Sean Strickland, Backed by Dana White, Issues a Statement After Loss Against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297

It must be noted that despite getting the middleweight title status, du Plessis rarely would have any chance to rest as Israel Adesanya is close to making a comeback and Khamzat Chimaev is demanding his title shot. ‘Borz’ even took to social media to challenge the new champion after the fight.

‘Stillknocks’ has to face a two-way battle

Du Plessis is in a mood to celebrate his win as the first South African to win a title in the UFC. However, darkened red eyes are now looking at his new middleweight belt. Dana White has yet to keep his promise that was made to the wolf, Khamzat Chimaev.

Chimaev has recovered from his injuries and seems like he would like to dance for the title. Chimaev’s last win came against the welterweight goat, Kamaru Usman, and WHite promised him a title fight at the middleweight division but a wrist injury and skin infection stopped him. After du Plessis’s victory, Chimaev took to his X(Formerly Twitter account to add a cryptic challenge for the new champion. He said “See you soon biplisi ufc300 ” 

At the post-fight press conference, du Plessis was asked about his intentions for Chimaev and with a simple statement he said “I mean, who takes that guy seriously anyway?” Du Plessis already have challengers ready for him but who he will fight next is still a mystery. Who do you think would be du Plessis’s next opponent?

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