Social Media Weighs In On Dricus du Plessis Failing to Defend His UFC Middleweight Championship
Social Media Weighs In On Dricus du Plessis Failing to Defend His UFC Middleweight Championship. Over the weekend, South African mixed martial artist Dricus du Plessis failed to defend his middleweight world title. He lost it to the powerful Chechnya-born Russian Khamzat Chimaev, who clearly had an upper hand.
The highly anticipated fight between Chimaev and Du Plessis happened in the early hours of Sunday. Chimaev dominated the South African, scoring frequent take-downs and then punishing the champion with shots. In the final round though, Du Plessis produced a few moments of hope in the final fifth, turning one take-down around and landing some good punches at distance, but it wasn’t enough. At the end, all the three judges scored it 50-44 for undefeated Chimaev, who went into the bout as the favourite. This was Du Plessis’s first loss in the UFC, taking his overall MMA record to 23-3 and his record in the organization to 9-1. Chimaev, on the other hand remains undefeated with a 15-0 overall record and 9-0 in the UFC.
Before the fights, Du Plessis was an undefeated UFC Middleweight Champion. He faced Sean Strickland for the belt on 20 January 2024, at UFC 297. Du Plessis won the bout by split decision, becoming the first UFC champion from South Africa. This fight earned him the Fight of the Night bonus.[56]
Du Plessis then made his first title defense against former two-time UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya on 18 August 2024 at UFC 30. He won the fight via a face crank submission in the fourth round, Adesanya’s first career submission loss. Du Plessis made his second title defense in a rematch against former champion Sean Strickland on 9 February 2025 at UFC 312, winning the fight by unanimous decision.
This past weekend, saw him lose the title to Chimaev. Besides fights, he is also well known for his political stance. On 8 February 2025, just two weeks into Donald Trump’s second presidency, Du Plessis stated at a press conference that the re-election of Trump in America was “incredible”, calling him “an amazing president”. Du Plessis additionally lauded “fellow South African Elon Musk for also doing the right thing”. This has however, made some South Africans angry. Many were happy that he just lost his UFC Middleweight Championship.
