Media Former UFC Champ: I don't buy DDP closing the gap, it looked like two completely different levels

[Unheralded Truth]

Dricus du Plessis stayed classy after losing his belt, acknowledging losing to the better fighter and that he doesn't have any excuses at all.

Later he revealed the plans of training hard for 6 months from now, just focusing on Chimaev's style, and that he will prove by then why an instant rematch for him
without fighting another MW contender first will be fair. His coach Morne Visser said they were "a little bit behind in the Russian-style wrestling" and can narrow that
gap in half a year, but former UFC champion Dominick Cruz now says he didn't like what he saw out of DDP in the fight - and struggles to commend the confidence:



"He says six months and I'll fill some gaps, but I mean, when I look at that - that's not six months. He didn't seperate one time. Like nothing, nothing. His legs weren't
getting involved from his back, because he's just never been put on his back for that long, I don't think. And you have to have an offense from the bottom in order to
get up. If your job's been, when you get taken down, to just get up and escape - that's kind of defensive in a way. So if you're on the bottom and getting held down,
you have to have some sort of offensive attack. Like, you need to go for a leg lock or you need to be able to off-balance to get to a double leg, or you need to be able
to create space and get to a front headlock. Some sort of attacks so that the person on top of you stops blanketing you. And he couldn't really create that. I don't know,
when you look at the differential in that particular fight it just looked like two completely different levels of fighters. Because the separation wasn't there. Now, if I could
say that DDP got away one time, I would have a totally different thing to say here. But he didn't and he couldn't, he couldn't separate once."

Cruz later went onto clarify that Chimaev specifically is a bad matchup for Du Plessis in the middleweight division:

"I think DDP beats almost everybody else in the division, it's just that particular matchup is just really exposing stuff, and that's the thing about being champion. So I don't
want to bust on DDP too bad, I mean how many titles has he defended and how much film do they have on him?"

Thoughts? Is Dominick speaking from experience here, knowing about the limits of what can be achieved? Or is it a cynical take, underrating an elite fighter?

 

[chinarice]

He's a douche but he's right sometimes. I'd say he's right in this case

 

[Mcnugget]

Ddp lost so much good will fight his fight iq

At least use the first few seconds of the round to get low and anticipate the shoot like cmon

 

[Streeter]

DDap needs just go to LHW hes not beating Khamzat.

 

[JustforBROCK]

Eh. Cruz sometimes goes to one extreme or the other than talking about the sport. I can see why he'd say that, but he's also said a lot of things that weren't true, did happen, etc. Doms good but he's a talking and sometimes will lay on one extreme.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

How insightful. Thank god that Dom pointed this out. I hardly noticed that DDP and hamsa looked to be on two different levels. I also would have never guessed that DDP can't close that wrestling gap in just 6 months.

 

[Gamboal]

Khamzat was towering over DDP in that footage and ragdolled him like he weighed 125lbs or something.

I think DDP is too small and weak for the division, a puffed up chest doesn't hide the fact he's got a Bambi legs frame.

 

[Rampage_Jackson]

How insightful. Thank god that Dom pointed this out. I hardly noticed that DDP and hamsa looked to be on two different levels. I also would have never guessed that DDP can't close that wrestling gap in just 6 months.

Biggest yea no shit statement ever lol.

 

[TheMaster]

Dricus du Plessis stayed classy after losing his belt, acknowledging losing to the better fighter and that he doesn't have any excuses at all.

Later he revealed the plans of training hard for 6 months from now, just focusing on Chimaev's style, and that he will prove by then why an instant rematch for him
without fighting another MW contender first will be fair. His coach Morne Visser said they were "a little bit behind in the Russian-style wrestling" and can narrow that
gap in half a year, but former UFC champion Dominick Cruz now says he didn't like what he saw out of DDP in the fight - and struggles to commend the confidence:



"He says six months and I'll fill some gaps, but I mean, when I look at that - that's not six months. He didn't seperate one time. Like nothing, nothing. His legs weren't
getting involved from his back, because he's just never been put on his back for that long, I don't think. And you have to have an offense from the bottom in order to
get up. If your job's been, when you get taken down, to just get up and escape - that's kind of defensive in a way. So if you're on the bottom and getting held down,
you have to have some sort of offensive attack. Like, you need to go for a leg lock or you need to be able to off-balance to get to a double leg, or you need to be able
to create space and get to a front headlock. Some sort of attacks so that the person on top of you stops blanketing you. And he couldn't really create that. I don't know,
when you look at the differential in that particular fight it just looked like two completely different levels of fighters. Because the separation wasn't there. Now, if I could
say that DDP got away one time, I would have a totally different thing to say here. But he didn't and he couldn't, he couldn't separate once."

Cruz later went onto clarify that Chimaev specifically is a bad matchup for Du Plessis in the middleweight division:

"I think DDP beats almost everybody else in the division, it's just that particular matchup is just really exposing stuff, and that's the thing about being champion. So I don't
want to bust on DDP too bad, I mean how many titles has he defended and how much film do they have on him?"

Thoughts? Is Dominick speaking from experience here, knowing about the limits of what can be achieved? Or is it a cynical take, underrating an elite fighter?

Agreed DDP is delusional about 6 months training. 3 years focusing on wrestling plus getting another win streak against contenders he might deserve another shot after that humiliation.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Biggest yea no shit statement ever lol.

Where's your son, Rampage?

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

 

[Rampage_Jackson]

Where's your son, Rampage?

Not in jail shockingly idk what the hold up is

 

[Arm Barbarian]

I'm in small company here, but I don't think it's out of the question that Dricus can close a significant gap, in the wrestling department, especially with his TDD.

He had said in interviews prior to the fight that he wasn't even going to try and avoid going to the ground with Chimaev. And it looked like he prepped exactly like that. Almost like he thought he was going to just go to his guard on the ground.

Problem was, Khamzat wasn't even playing the guard game, at all. He was going side mount, with crucifix.

But even with that disastrous outcome for Dricus, there were some very basic things he did none of in this fight, that are not terribly difficult to learn and improve in, without years and years of training.

Number one, hand fighting the body locks. There were multiple instances in this fight where Khamzat shot but did not get the initial TD. He then chained it into a body lock and just sort of slid that lock up and down, til he eventually off balanced DDP. Had Dricus focused on pushing down on his clasped hands and breaking the grip, many of these secondary TDs could have either been stopped, or have caused Khamzat to expend far more energy and effort than he had to in this fight.

Secondary - Sprawling. Again, this was something Dricus seemed to almost entirely avoid even trying, until about the 5th round, and when he finally did put some effort into it, he was successful, even reversing Chimaev.

Thirdly, but definitely the most difficult of the three is creating scrambles on the ground and not just looking like a fish out of water when he winds up on his back. This area will be the one which requires the most training and technique.

But the first two techniques if drilled properly, and ESPECIALLY with far better wrestlers with good credentials and timing, can make a world of difference in how a rematch potentially plays out.

Dricus is a freak of nature with tremendous tools and a great base. All he needs to do is sharpen his TDD with the right training partners, and he can definitely regain the strap imo.

 

[Ara tech]

Agreed DDP is delusional about 6 months training. 3 years focusing on wrestling plus getting another win streak against contenders he might deserve another shot after that humiliation.

What you said is somehow true, but if you were in his shoes, you would a rematch within the year.

Can't blame him.

 

[Skarsgard]

I'm in small company here, but I don't think it's out of the question that Dricus can close a significant gap, in the wrestling department, especially with his TDD.

He had said in interviews prior to the fight that he wasn't even going to try and avoid going to the ground with Chimaev. And it looked like he prepped exactly like that. Almost like he thought he was going to just go to his guard on the ground.

Problem was, Khamzat wasn't even playing the guard game, at all. He was going side mount, with crucifix.

But even with that disastrous outcome for Dricus, there were some very basic things he did none of in this fight, that are not terribly difficult to learn and improve in, without years and years of training.

Number one, hand fighting the body locks. There were multiple instances in this fight where Khamzat shot but did not get the initial TD. He then chained it into a body lock and just sort of slid that lock up and down, til he eventually off balanced DDP. Had Dricus focused on pushing down on his clasped hands and breaking the grip, many of these secondary TDs could have either been stopped, or have caused Khamzat to expend far more energy and effort than he had to in this fight.

Secondary - Sprawling. Again, this was something Dricus seemed to almost entire avoid even trying, until about the 5th round, and when he finally did put some effort into it, he was successful, even reversing Chimaev.

Thirdly, but definitely the most difficult of the three is creating scrambles on the ground and not just looking like a fish out of water when he winds up on his back. This area will be the one which requires the most training and technique.

But the first two techniques if drilled properly, and ESPECIALLY with far better wrestlers with good credentials and timing, can make a world of difference in how a rematch potentially plays out.

Dricus is a freak of nature with tremendous tools and a great base. All he needs to do is sharpen his TDD with the right training partners, and he can definitely regain the strap imo.

Couldn't have said it better.
Khamzat will also be under a lot more pressure to make a statement in a rematch. He can't just coast in a position and hope lightly tapping DDP does enough. That'll cause enough room for error and escape.

 

[GoWokeGoBroke]

Dominick snooze is correct

 

[joy2day]

I'm in small company here, but I don't think it's out of the question that Dricus can close a significant gap, in the wrestling department, especially with his TDD.

He had said in interviews prior to the fight that he wasn't even going to try and avoid going to the ground with Chimaev. And it looked like he prepped exactly like that. Almost like he thought he was going to just go to his guard on the ground.

Problem was, Khamzat wasn't even playing the guard game, at all. He was going side mount, with crucifix.

But even with that disastrous outcome for Dricus, there were some very basic things he did none of in this fight, that are not terribly difficult to learn and improve in, without years and years of training.

Number one, hand fighting the body locks. There were multiple instances in this fight where Khamzat shot but did not get the initial TD. He then chained it into a body lock and just sort of slid that lock up and down, til he eventually off balanced DDP. Had Dricus focused on pushing down on his clasped hands and breaking the grip, many of these secondary TDs could have either been stopped, or have caused Khamzat to expend far more energy and effort than he had to in this fight.

Secondary - Sprawling. Again, this was something Dricus seemed to almost entire avoid even trying, until about the 5th round, and when he finally did put some effort into it, he was successful, even reversing Chimaev.

Thirdly, but definitely the most difficult of the three is creating scrambles on the ground and not just looking like a fish out of water when he winds up on his back. This area will be the one which requires the most training and technique.

But the first two techniques if drilled properly, and ESPECIALLY with far better wrestlers with good credentials and timing, can make a world of difference in how a rematch potentially plays out.

Dricus is a freak of nature with tremendous tools and a great base. All he needs to do is sharpen his TDD with the right training partners, and he can definitely regain the strap imo.

If you watch the Leon vs Usman trio of fights, Leon massively improved so that by their last fight, he wouldn't get dominated by Usman's grappling anymore, with better hand fighting and such. It's a bigger gap for DDP to close, but I would agree it is not impossible.

 

[L0ki]

It was good to hear Dricus say "it's like he knew everything I was going to do".



It's highly unlikely Du Plesis (not calling him DDP anymore for FEEL THE BANG reasons) closes the gap given 1, 2, 5 or 10 years.

Not only did it look like a non-fighter vs a pro but Dricus showed similar mistakes an amateur would make while Khamzat was backpacking.

It's ironic with Ken Flo, given how Sherk-like a performance Khamzat gave but thinking Dricus closes the wrestling gap is similar to thinking Kenny Florian could've closed the wrestling gap on Sherk.

Closing the gap is a little off base itself.

Dricus needs to learn the basics fluently first.

 

[Myrddin Wild]

DDP has great TDD... but what he waz missing is "Chain TDD"

I don't think that's going to be that difficult to incorporate... but in no way does he not need to prove himself in teh cage again before getting another shot at Borz. Preferrably against a high level chain wrestler so he can prove he'z got a chance.

 

[fortheo]

The faulty premise here is the notion that you need to be on a wrestler's grappling level in order to beat him. You don't. You just need to be good enough to create some moments of space, make the wrestler work a bit more, and engender opportunities to capitalize on the advantages that you do have.

Getting to that level is a much more possible task than "closing" the gap in the wrestling.

If you watch the Leon vs Usman trio of fights, Leon massively improved so that by their last fight, he wouldn't get dominated by Usman's grappling anymore, with better hand fighting and such. It's a bigger gap for DDP to close, but I would agree it is not impossible.

Exactly, and nobody would say that Leon became as good as usman in wrestling. He just became good enough where he was able to create enough opportunities for himself to win.