Dricus du Plessis thinks Belal Muhammad may be barking up the unsuitable tree.
The UFC welterweight champion just lately took a shot on the total middleweight division, together with champion du Plessis, telling Barstool Chicago, “185 might be the simplest weight class — moreover Khamzat [Chimaev]. If you take a look at that [UFC 312] major occasion, you’re like, ‘Bro, Strickland and du Plessis suck.’”
Throughout an interview with The Ariel Helwani Present, du Plessis responded to Muhammad’s boast with just a few cracks of his personal.
“Belal Muhammad, I can’t even bear in mind the way in which he fights, I don’t know,” du Plessis stated. “Has he ever completed anybody? … I imply, I like how he acts as if he has a option to ever go as much as 185. The UFC won’t ever let him. If he needed to, he’d must abandon his belt, hand over his belt, vacate, and go as much as 185, and there’s no manner they provide him a direct title shot. There’s no manner. The UFC doesn’t even like Belal Muhammad.
“He hasn’t even defended his belt as soon as. He’s positively higher on Twitter than he’s when he fights; let’s simply say that.”
Regardless of du Plessis and Muhammad—at the moment No. 6 and No. 7 within the MMA Preventing Pound-for-Pound Rankings, respectively—dismissing one another as opponents, the 2 are each in the midst of dominant runs. Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland in a rematch at UFC 312 to document his second straight middleweight title protection and enhance to 9-0 within the UFC, whereas Muhammad has gone undefeated in 11 straight fights courting again to 2019, capped off by a one-sided choice win over Leon Edwards at UFC 304 this previous July to assert the welterweight belt.
A matchup between the 2 would generate headlines, however du Plessis solely sees a mismatch on paper.
“No, that might be unfair,” du Plessis stated. “If I combat Belal Muhammad, it will be unfair. A hundred percent, have you ever seen the scale of the person? What’s he going to do? Is he going to get any individual to assist him? Is he going to sit down on any individual’s neck? How is it going to work? He’s the smallest—I couldn’t imagine that he’s at 170 after I noticed him. I couldn’t imagine that he fights at 170.”
Pressed for a prediction on how a combat with Muhammad would possibly go, du Plessis was succinct.
“I step on his head and it’s over,” du Plessis stated. “That’s how that combat goes.”
Du Plessis’ feedback made the rounds on social media, drawing a response from Muhammad, who wrote, “He can barely stroll with out tripping over his personal ft. He ain’t touching me.”
Although nothing is official, each champions seem to have their subsequent title defenses lined up, with du Plessis anticipated to face Khamzat Chimaev, and Muhammad ready to re-book a postponed bout with challenger Shavkat Rakhmonov.
