Rumored DDP injured, fight with Chimaev off

[Tweak896]

Agreed. Should have been Khamzat, but UFC insisted on making another snoozefest.

This is all on the UFC for this one. The injury free DDP was put on a Strickland rematch and that might be the only time we see him all year. It's almost comical as a Khamzat fan who's watched him since he debuted how he keeps winning and the title shot is just outside his reach. Khamzat getting interim belt is part of the same fucked up journey he's been on.

 

[Neck&Neck]

This is all on the UFC for this one. The injury free DDP was put on a Strickland rematch and that might be the only time we see him all year. It's almost comical as a Khamzat fan who's watched him since he debuted how he keeps winning and the title shot is just outside his reach. Khamzat getting interim belt is part of the same fucked up journey he's been on.

It’s all on Kham, if he could of gotten into Australia he would of had the fight

 

[Tweak896]

It’s all on Kham, if he could of gotten into Australia he would of had the fight

Part of me believes you he has some issues behind the scenes because of this Russia stuff and who he's close with, but still the UFC and Khamzat keep a tight lip on the status of his visa and where he's accepted or not. Technically it's a baseless rumor, but yeah I kind of agree that's probably also what prevents his career from advancing.

The guy is a killer but he's got so many issues behind the scenes with visas, health issues, past issues of making 170, but still you would think UFC would recognize this guy is a maniac and has been called champ material since his debut so they could call an audible and potentially move arenas or book elsewhere. Whenever Khamzat's goes past his prime, I know everyone is going to wonder what could've been had everything just lined up from the start.

Imagine he was booked to fight Usman after Burns, defends belt against Leon. Moves to MW beats Costa/Strickland/Whittaker, fights DDP for belt and wins. That's only 4 fights. He beat Burns in 2022 yet we're in 2025 and still no real title fight booked for him.

 

[MMAFanCal]

Dricus responds to Khamzat

 

[Neck&Neck]

Part of me believes you he has some issues behind the scenes because of this Russia stuff and who he's close with, but still the UFC and Khamzat keep a tight lip on the status of his visa and where he's accepted or not. Technically it's a baseless rumor, but yeah I kind of agree that's probably also what prevents his career from advancing.

The guy is a killer but he's got so many issues behind the scenes with visas, health issues, past issues of making 170, but still you would think UFC would recognize this guy is a maniac and has been called champ material since his debut so they could call an audible and potentially move arenas or book elsewhere. Whenever Khamzat's goes past his prime, I know everyone is going to wonder what could've been had everything just lined up from the start.

Imagine he was booked to fight Usman after Burns, defends belt against Leon. Moves to MW beats Costa/Strickland/Whittaker, fights DDP for belt and wins. That's only 4 fights. He beat Burns in 2022 yet we're in 2025 and still no real title fight booked for him.

He was denied entry just going to watch UFC 312
He had a media tour booked and watch party
Sold hella tickets
Then canceled and didn’t offer refunds

Then after that he finally got his UAE visa

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Did I miss the fight being announced? Otherwise how does an unmade fight get off?

Khazmat has shown he loves sitting out so I expect he's not going to fight anyone else so this is just delayed.

Better lock in Jones vs Tom for IFW or 3 titles or it's going to be a meh event. I suppose CHAMA could save it as well and try to regain his belt.

 

[Luffy]

Lol, seriously? Whittaker is a legit grappler and Ank's TDs are nothing special. DDP has taken down almost everyone he's fought and finished multiple people on the ground. Poatan and Israel looked like a couple of 1990s strikers when they grappled each other.

Yeah, he couldn't keep Sean Strickland on the ground. He also could only finish Adesanya when he hurt him... Before that, he couldn't outright take him down and when he did, Izzy got up without much problems. Ankalaev took down everyone he tried except Alex. He took Jan Blacowicz down with one leg, took down Tiago Santos (who could prevent JJ's takedown)... With Poatan, that was the fight he shoot the most takedowns out of all his fights. Heck, he tried the entire 4th round to take Poatan down... The judge even separated them because he was doing nothing effective. Then, he went on to desperately trying to take Poatan down, could not, and basically did nothing in that round... His offense was basically knee to the tights that weren't even full force as his angle was shit. That was basically his way of stalling the 4th round, so he could be 3-1 or 2-2 and at the worst case, he'd need to win the 5th round...

And in the 5th round he had a different approach, he went on for striking... But Alex pushed and started to outstrike him (like in the third round), but contrary to the third round in which Alex outstriked Ankalaev, this one had strikes that rocked Ankalaev somewhat, like the head kick which landed partially, the two jabs to the body + two jabs to the face followed by another head kick... Which made Ankalaev stop trying to keep the fight standing and go for the takedown. He couldn't and finished the round hugging Alex with again, 0 effective grappling. Ankalaev wasn't even sure he had won. All fights that go to the distance, like vs Jan Blacowicz, Thiago Santos, Rakic... Ankalaev always celebrates even before the decision, with his arms up and smiling big. This one he was tired and was worried about the result until the official result came in. Clearly, he didn't think he won for sure, he thought it was close, unlike vs Jan Blacowicz, for example.

So Whittaker has better wrestling than Ankalaev now? Are you trolling? Lmaoo

 

[Luffy]

Bro, Dricus popped back up quickly and Whittaker could not hold him down. For the next 1.5 rounds, Dricus mauled him and then finished him. You are literally repeating what Khamzat said, but no one talks about what happens next when you take someone down? Whittaker later on in interviews said, he never realized how strong Dricus was until he took him down. He said it was impossible for him to keep him down. It merely comes down to his high risk. high reward style. He constantly is pressuring, coming forward and wanting to finish the fight and in this chaotic process, he sometimes stumbles and pays for it, but never stops the relentless pressure.

The guy has been grappling since the age 4 starting with Judo. He became a black belt in Judo by only age 14 and competed nationally in South Africa as a Judoka with his 2 older brothers who were South African champions in Judo. He switched to K-1 kickboxing in his late teens in order to compete without a Gi.

Not many people know, when Dricus was training for the first Strickland fight in Toronto, they brought in the most elite Russian Sambo/BJJ instructor in Canada into the gym to spar with Dricus. Dricus submitted him in only 3 minutes. Reinier who trained both with Khamzat and Dricus extensively said., Dricus is bigger, stronger than Khamzat.

I will play exactly the game you are playing. Dricus submitted Adesanya. Adesanya had a field day with taking down Poatan like a helpless giraffe at will. Dricus took every single fighter down whenever he wanted. Strickland has one of the best TDD and Dricus took him down multiple times.

Yes, doesn't change much. If Ankalaev couldn't take Poatan down, and Poatan basically nullified Ankalaev's grappling, then it doesn't matter what kind of training DDP had. Ankalaev trained Sambo since he was little as well. DDP wouldn't out grapple Alex. It'd be like Alex vs Khalil Rountree.

 

[MMAFanCal]

Yes, doesn't change much. If Ankalaev couldn't take Poatan down, and Poatan basically nullified Ankalaev's grappling, then it doesn't matter what kind of training DDP had. Ankalaev trained Sambo since he was little as well. DDP wouldn't out grapple Alex. It'd be like Alex vs Khalil Rountree.

Khalil Rountree is effectively a kickboxer. Look at his record. All of his finishes are via strikes. Dricus is a submission speclialist. Dricus has 80% finish rate and nearly 50% of his finishes, are by way of submissions. It is just math. This has nothing to do with Dricus. Also, Dricus is taller, longer reach and stronger than Rountree. At 205 lbs, Dricus would be a lot bigger and would be less depleted so strength is another factor.

For my point, they are fighting in different classes. I am talking 185 lbs for all scenarios to make it apples to apples where Adesanya was taking Poatan down at will. Dricus had a field day with Adesanya in grappling. I believe, Dricus will be a lot stronger than Anklaev at 205 lbs.

205 lbs is completely apples to oranges. At 205 lbs, Dricus would be a totally different beast. He already cuts 30 lbs to get down to 185 lbs. At 205 lbs, he easily would be around his walkaround weight of 220+ lbs.

 

[Luffy]

Interim MW champ fight.

Caio vs Khamzat?

Or imavov vs khamzat.

Caio is more deserving imo. Bo Nickal too. Bo and Caio are legit tough guys who are mostly forgotten because they don't maket much. But they are on a big streak and if talking about meritocracy, they are as deserving as DDP when DDP was scheduled to fight for the belt. DDP knows he'd have a hard time with Caio or Bo Nickal, that's why the top guys in MW don't even mention the lower ranked ones... Even Khamzat too, who has got, like, 1 legit win in MW? 2 if counting the short notice fight vs Usman, who had 2 weeks to prepare and was never a middleweight but oh well. I think 1 impressive win vs Rob (both for DDP and Khamzat, when they were in the right mood with their calendar cycle peak) is the qualifier for "absolutely fight for the belt next!!" now...

 

[Luffy]

That's when you gotta appreciate guys like Poatan and Izzy. Pereira defeated 3 fights the UFC offered him (last one was Sean Strickland... I think the first fighter I remember KO'ing Strickland, let alone in the first round like that...) then fought and defeated prime Adesanya, who had yet to lose in middleweight, he was by then undefeated... Then, even being 3-0 on Izzy (and 1-0 in the UFC) and struggling as fuck to cut down to 185 (Sean even said Poatan looked like the death when he saw him cutting weight for the second Izzy fight), he accepted the rematch, lost with Izzy hammer punching him while out cold, then mocking Pereira's son who was crying... Doubling down on mocking his son...

... Still, Pereira left that at it, went to LHW, defeated Jan (who had defeated Izzy before), then defeated Jiri twice (who hasn't lot to anyone other than Alex...), fought Khalil Rountree (who is very dangerous, basically, his #8 ranking was misleading considering his current abilities) and then fought Ankalaev even with a broken hand and with a cold... Still, he fought against him, made it a very, very close fight that could go either way, but was slightly outclassed, though he was the one who gave Ankalaev the hardest fight of Ankalaev's career. Ppl talk about Tom, but Ankalaev is like in a 14 wins streak in the UFC... Ankalaev's resume is just way, way, way more impressive than Tom's. Poatan fought Ankalaev who is the same age as Tom, while Poatan is the same age as JJ, after a busy schedule and not being well physically, made it razor thin close... It's just crazy how ppl overlook him now. Either they don't think Ankalaev is like one of the best ever... to the point they overlook someone Poatan, who's older than JJ, destroying 3 fighters all younger than him (Jiri, Hill, Khalil) in 8 months gap, and making it close, like 51/49 for Ankalaev, who's also way younger (Ank is 32 yo iirc) and whose win streak is on a way higher level, in a higher level division too, than Tom's current win streak...

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Wtf is going on with all the pull outs? Any how Khamzat is the last one who should be complaining. How many cards has he fucked cause of pull outs? He needs to go fight Imavov or Caio. Beating a Bobby knuckles whose last win was Paulo Costa and an unranked Ikram shouldn't have been enough for a TS in the first place IMO.

 

[BigOlJeet]

According to Kevin Iole

DDP Injured, Khamzat Title Fight Put On Ice

A potential middleweight clash between current UFC champion Dricus du Plessis and undefeated sensation Khamzat Chimaev will apparently have to wait.

www.mmamania.com

I was really looking forward to this one

I was looking forward to Neckbeard Khamzat getting finished, shame we gotta wait longer.

 

[Luffy]

Khalil Rountree is effectively a kickboxer. Look at his record. All of his finishes are via strikes. Dricus is a submission speclialist. Dricus has 80% finish rate and nearly 50% of his finishes, are by way of submissions. It is just math. This has nothing to do with Dricus. Also, Dricus is taller, longer reach and stronger than Rountree. At 205 lbs, Dricus would be a lot bigger and would be less depleted so strength is another factor.

For my point, they are fighting in different classes. I am talking 185 lbs for all scenarios to make it apples to apples where Adesanya was taking Poatan down at will. Dricus had a field day with Adesanya in grappling. I believe, Dricus will be a lot stronger than Anklaev at 205 lbs.

205 lbs is completely apples to oranges. At 205 lbs, Dricus would be a totally different beast. He already cuts 30 lbs to get down to 185 lbs. At 205 lbs, he easily would be around his walkaround weight of 220+ lbs.

Again, he could not submit Sean Strickland and only did so vs Adesanya after rocking him on the third round. Not to mention he is also big, very big for MW. He weighs normally around 220 lbs and is bigger than his opponents during the fight. In LHW, he wouldn't have this advantage at all, much less against fighters who are big for LHW, like Poatan, who weighs around 235 ~ 240 ... Khalil weighs around 220 lbs as well, same as DDP. Look at his body in the fight vs Pereira, he looked like young Mike Tyson... Shorter but very big, very muscular. DDP isn't bigger than Khalil at all. And if even when having a weight advantage he couldn't just finish Adesanya unless when he rocked him and could not keep Sean down... Then vs Poatan, who stopped all of Ankalaev's takedown (who btw, is also bigger than DDP), DDP would be on the losing side vs Poatan, he'd likely just... lose, like TKO in the championship rounds. But Poatan wanted that fight, so did DDP. Alex isn't afraid of "smaller men". He doesn't hesitate in giving smaller men chance.

 

[MMAFanCal]

Again, he could not submit Sean Strickland and only did so vs Adesanya after rocking him on the third round. Not to mention he is also big, very big for MW. He weighs normally around 220 lbs and is bigger than his opponents during the fight. In LHW, he wouldn't have this advantage at all, much less against fighters who are big for LHW, like Poatan, who weighs around 235 ~ 240 ... Khalil weighs around 220 lbs as well, same as DDP. Look at his body in the fight vs Pereira, he looked like young Mike Tyson... Shorter but very big, very muscular. DDP isn't bigger than Khalil at all. And if even when having a weight advantage he couldn't just finish Adesanya unless when he rocked him and could not keep Sean down... Then vs Poatan, who stopped all of Ankalaev's takedown (who btw, is also bigger than DDP), DDP would be on the losing side vs Poatan, he'd likely just... lose, like TKO in the championship rounds. But Poatan wanted that fight, so did DDP. Alex isn't afraid of "smaller men". He doesn't hesitate in giving smaller men chance.

Dricus fight night weight is 212 - 215 lbs depending on the fight as per official records. Not 220 lbs. Khalil has never submitted anyone. He is a kickboxer. Has nothing to do with Dricus, like I said before. Dricus is a submission specialist. Look at the picture of Khalil vs Poatan. There is easily 5+ inches gap. Khalil is short despite what the paper says. He is no more than 5'10" to 5'11" max. You are trying to marginalize Dricus by comparing him to Rountree. He was knocked out by chin-king Walker, for crying out loud. How much more disrespectful it could get?

I already said what I needed to say. If you want to convince yourself of what you wrote, go right ahead. Just starting the facts that Dricus himself said he will be another +10 lbs heavier, if he went up to 205 lbs since that is his natural walkaround weight.

 

[Luffy]

Eh, at least to be fair on Chimaev, both him and Leon had COVID. And the weight cut to WW was fucking Chimaev up. His doctor even said that if he kept cutting weight for the Diaz fight, his health would be in serious jeopardy. And seeing how he had a very rough COVID, he sacrificed his health a lot in his earlier days. Even still, he never had a title fight, he never held on to a belt... DDP pulled out of the first Izzy fight, who had to take on Sean on short notice, all while having prepared the full camping for DDP.

Btw, seeing as how Khamzat ragdolled Kevin Holland in the first round, like, it seemed like he rolled with Holland 3 times in the ground and attempted 3 chokes until getting the Darko Choke lol... It's safe to say at least that Nate Diaz managed to avoid a rocked coming at him lmao.

DDP might have noticed the calendar would benefit him and wants to fight Khamzat when having a big on cycle favour hehe

 

[snugglecakes]

jon jones not injured... Fight with Tom is somehow off

 

[188912345]

I am talking 185 lbs for all scenarios to make it apples to apples where Adesanya was taking Poatan down at will.

Sorry to interrupt your discussion, but that's just not true.

Adesanya had 0 success when he initiated takedown attempts vs Pereira.
He did however reverse and land on top when Poatan tried to take him down via a trip, and was then on top of him for a few minutes.

He also had a broken thumb or something in fight camp for Izzy, so he couldn't grapple during the camp.

Regarding Pereiras takedown defense, I think the Ankalaev fight is way more recent and relevant to the discussion.

I don't think Dricus has an easy time to take down Pereira. Especially not holding him down, given that he struggled to hold down Izzy and Strickland.

 

[Luffy]

Dricus fight night weight is 212 - 215 lbs depending on the fight as per official records. Not 220 lbs. Khalil has never submitted anyone. He is a kickboxer. Dricus is a submission specialist. Look at the picture of Khalil vs Poatan. Khalil is short despite what the paper says. He is no more than 5'10" to 5'11" max. I already said what I needed to say. If you want to convince yourself of what you wrote, go right ahead. Just starting the facts that Dricus himself said he will be another +10 lbs heavier, if he went up to 205 lbs since that is his natural walkaround weight.

No, Khalil is 6'0 ... Dunno where you saw that. He is slightly taller than DDP. And again, he is as big as DDP. DDP fights 215 lbs in MW yeah, more or less the same weight as Poatan would fight there, though DDP isn't as heavy as Poatan, so he can cut weight and get to that range more easily. Against ppl would would be as big or bigger than him on LHW... He wouldn't be likely to defeat Poatan. Ankalaev couldn't take him down despite that being the fight he tried the most to grapple. So... DDP, who is worse than Ankalaev on grappling and is lighter than Ankalaev, would have no chance in taking Alex down and submitting him. Unless you think his grappling is better than Ankalaev, in which case you are delusional.

 

[MMAFanCal]

No, Khalil is 6'0 ... Dunno where you saw that. He is slightly taller than DDP. And again, he is as big as DDP. DDP fights 215 lbs in MW yeah, more or less the same weight as Poatan would fight there, though DDP isn't as heavy as Poatan, so he can cut weight and get to that range more easily. Against ppl would would be as big or bigger than him on LHW... He wouldn't be likely to defeat Poatan. Ankalaev couldn't take him down despite that being the fight he tried the most to grapple. So... DDP, who is worse than Ankalaev on grappling and is lighter than Ankalaev, would have no chance in taking Alex down and submitting him. Unless you think his grappling is better than Ankalaev, in which case you are delusional.

LOL...OK buddy! Give it a rest. Your beloved Poatan is not a champion anymore so I don't even know if Dricus vs Poatan would ever happen considering Poatan is 38 already. Take a chill pill. I am trying not to split hairs over things that are not foreseeable.

p.s. Rountree is 6'0", just like Jarzinho is 6'4". You will believe anything that suits your confirmation bias. Look at the pictures. He looked tiny next to Poatan in the ring. There is easily a 5 - 6 inches gap between Poatan and Rountree. If he is 6'0" then I am 6'0" as well since that is how I look up to 6'4" guys, the way he had to crane his neck. He lies about his height. He is no more than 5'10" or 5'11" and even that is stretching it.

It is not about what it says on paper. it is about how the person stacks up in real life, that matters. He looks small next to Poatan and does not seem like a true light-heavyweight. The guy was knocked out by Johnny Walker and you are comparing him to an undefeated champion who has never lost in UFC.