UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis has moved to debunk rumors that he suffered a catastrophic injury and is unable to defend his title.
It had been speculated that Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) was set to face Khamzat Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) at UFC 317 on June 28.
Another top contender in the middleweight division, Caio Borralho (17-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC), revealed during an interview with AG Fight last week that he had heard Du Plessis had broken his shinbone and would therefore be unavailable to face Chimaev during International Fight Week.
This sparked an entertaining back-and-forth between Chimaev and Borralho, with "Borz" sharing pictures online of the two sparring — including one where he had secured a rear-naked choke on the Brazilian.
Both fighters have been calling for the opportunity to face each other, possibly for an interim title at UFC 317, should the champion be unavailable. However, Du Plessis addressed the rumors this week in a post on his Instagram account, aiming to put the speculation to rest.
"Okey so everyone had their opinions and rumours and stories about a shin break and injuries etc", Du Plessis wrote. "I found it all very entertaining, unfortunately none of it is true myself and @ufc already discussed a fight date and opponent, the June fight was never signed I did not pull out of any fight, I am the champion I know when I fight you as a contender just show up when we tell you to. Fight announcement coming soon stay tuned. #preparetobeamazed #stillknocks????."
Du Plessis was most recently in action at UFC 312 in February, where he made the second successful defense of his title, outpointing former champion Sean Strickland over five rounds.
He had previously defeated Strickland at UFC 297 twelve months earlier to win the belt, before going on to submit another former champion, Israel Adesanya, in his first title defense later that year.
