Daniel Cormier believes Dricus Du Plessis may have underestimated Khamzat Chimaev heading into UFC 319.
Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) was dominated by Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) over 25 minutes in the main event at Chicago’s United Center on Saturday night, losing his middleweight title in the process.
“Stillknocks” struggled to find an answer to the Chechen’s trademark aggressive wrestling, leading Cormier to question whether the South African had been caught off guard.
"It was very impressive by Chimaev," Cormier said this week on his YouTube channel. "If I'm being honest, though, it was a little disappointing on the side of Du Plessis because he knew the challenge. I don't know if they prepared the right way for what challenge was in front of them. You know when you're fighting Chimaev, you've got to be able to get up if taken down, and you've got to make the takedowns hard. He wasn't able to do either of those things tonight, and now he's the former champ."
With Chimaev now at the top of the division, attention shifts to who might be next in line for a title shot. The UFC Paris headliner between Nassourdine Imavov (16-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) and Caio Borralho (17-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) on September 6 is widely viewed as a No. 1 contender matchup, while Reinier de Ridder (21-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) and Anthony Hernandez (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) have also made headlines recently with major wins.
"Reinier de Ridder loves grappling, so he can present some problems there," Cormier said. "He has good striking. 'Fluffy' Hernandez has wrestling, cardio and boxing. He could present some problems. Obviously Borralho and Imavov are tremendous strikers. They present problems there. But all these guys should be running to the wrestling room right now.
"(His future opponents should be) getting with a coach that can prepare them for the wrestling exchanges because the controls that Chimaev uses, the wrist fighting, the hand fighting, the forward pressure, these are all things that you learn in the wrestling room as a kid, and then you apply them to fighting. I don't know if one training camp is going to be enough to help you close the gap, because Chimaev is so good in those areas."
