While Dricus Du
Plessis has been immensely impressed by Robert
Whittaker’s latest wins, he believes “Bobby Knuckles” is still
another victory away from a title shot.
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Whittaker suffered a second-round TKO loss against Du Plessis at
UFC 290 in July 2023. While Du Plessis was the only person to beat
Whittaker other than Israel
Adesanya since 2014, many discounted “The Reaper” following
that loss.
However, Whittaker rebounded with a unanimous decision win over
Paulo
Costa at UFC 298 this past February. Whittaker was then
scheduled to headline
UFC on ABC 6 in a title eliminator against Khamzat
Chimaev last month before “Borz” pulled out due to illness.
Chimaev was replaced on nine days’ notice by unranked prospect
Ikram
Aliskerov, who went on to suffer a first-round knockout
loss.
Closely watching the fight, Du Plessis was very happy with
Whittaker’s dominant win and believes the Australian would have
beaten Chimaev as well. For Du Plessis, it was statement made in
favor of the entire top tier of the division.
“He didn’t perform badly. He performed the way Rob does,” Du
Plessis recently told Hello Sport. “I was just the better fighter
on that night and I got that win. And people wrote him off just for
that loss. He came back against Paulo
Costa. Paulo Costa
looked amazing in that outing, he [Whittaker] just straight out
beat him…I honestly believe he would have beaten Khamzat if they
had to fight. It was a big question mark for me that fight
[Whittaker vs. Aliskerov] because it had implications for me as a
champion. But I was so happy because I don’t think people realize
what it takes to be in the Top 5 of the UFC. Being Top 5 best
fighters in the world.”
Aliskerov was riding a seven-fight winning streak going into his
clash against Whittaker, and the Russian’s lone pro loss came via a
first-round knockout against Chimaev in 2019. Despite Aliskerov’s
impressive pedigree on the regional scene and early UFC career, Du
Plessis notes that the upper echelon of the UFC is a whole
different ballgame, as Whittaker proved.
“And that guy, Ikram, trained with him many many years ago,” Du
Plessis said. “And he is a good fighter. He is a really good
fighter, but thinking you’re a good fighter, even a great fighter
and just walking into the UFC, in the Top 5, Top 3, it’s a whole
different ball game. It takes a special human being to do that. And
Robert
Whittaker proved that and I’m really happy that he did because
you get a lot of guys that win three to four fights and think, ‘I’m
ready to beat the guys at the top. Why can’t I beat that guy?’ And
he just went out there and he proved that there’s levels to this
game.”
Meanwhile Du Plessis defends his title against former champ
Israel
Adesanya at UFC 305
on Aug. 17 in Perth, Australia. While Du Plessis was impressed with
Whittaker’s performance, he believes it wasn’t enough to warrant
the next title shot. According to Du Plessis, Whittaker should next
fight No. 1 contender Sean
Strickland, who is coming off a split-decision win over Costa
at UFC 302 last month.
“Yeah [Strickland vs. Whittaker]. It’s a fight that makes sense,”
Du Plessis said. “I know Dana said Whittaker vs. Khamzat was a
title eliminator but that was kind of taken away from Rob. Taken
away the opportunity because they’re not necessarily going to give
him a title shot for beating an unranked opponent… But the Rob and
Strickland fight would be massive. It’s a hard fight, the fact that
I don’t know who’s gonna win that fight… That would be an
interesting fight. It would be a shame if we don’t see it.”