Fighting

UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis was the picture of dominance in his rematch with Sean Strickland, bloodying his trash-talking challenger to a clear-cut unanimous decision win.

However, the South African star may want to hold off on celebrating too hard just yet, as his win cleared the way for what might be the toughest fight of his career: a showdown with undefeated juggernaut Khamzat Chimaev.

Du Plessis's second meeting with Strickland headlined Saturday's UFC 312 card in Sydney, Australia. It occurred just over one year after their first encounter, which saw Du Plessis claim the middleweight title with a narrow split-decision victory in Toronto, Canada. That verdict left plenty of room for debate as to who was the superior middleweight, but Du Plessis put that debate to bed Down Under.

"I wanted a submission or a knockout or an absolute domination of a five-rounder, and that's what I gave," he told color commentator Daniel Cormier in his post-fight interview.

Du Plessis began to have success very early in the fight — so much so that play-by-play man Jon Anik was proclaiming the champ was "starting to flow" before the first round was even over. Strickland, meanwhile, seemed to have a hard time getting going, and unfortunately, that didn't really change as the fight progressed.

It was a terrible performance from Strickland — reminiscent of Colby Covington's disastrous 2023 title shot against Leon Edwards, not because the challenger failed to do much of anything throughout the fight, but because he'd made countless boastful promises to the contrary in the lead-up to it, and completely failed to deliver on them. Unfortunately for him, Du Plessis didn't slow down either. The champion had drawn blood by the end of round two, and continued to pour on the offense into round three, landing big punches and even a spinning elbow in close, and widening what was already a notable scoring lead.

The champion's best round came in round four when he landed a massive punch that clearly shattered Strickland's nose, and left the American wearing a mask of blood. The impact got an immediate impact from Strickland, who immediately began to paw at his nose, and seemed more or less out of options by the time the round ended.

Heading into the fifth, Strickland got a firm talking-to from his coach Eric Nicksick, who begged him to crank up the offense — as he had several times already in the fight. Unlike Nicksick's previous attempts, this 11th-hour pep talk seemed to have some effect, as Strickland finally started to throw with consequence in the fifth, but Du Plessis was wise to it, and offered plenty of return fire. In other words, it was too little, too late for the challenger. By the time the scorecards were being read, no question would be leaving Sydney with the belt.

"He wanted to stand and bang and I was willing to give that," Du Plessis told Cormier once the fight was over.

Toward the end of his post-fight interview, Du Plessis set his sights on a fight with UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who was in Sydney to support Strickland, who has become one of his regular training partners. That would certainly be a big fight — and it may well happen soon — but Du Plessis has other business to take care of first in Chimaev.

Most fans who aren't enamored with Strickland's stream-of-consciousness trash talk agreed that Chimaev deserved the opportunity to fight for the title before the American got a shot a redemption against Du Plessis. The Russian is undefeated, with recent wins over the likes of Kamaru Usman, Kevin Holland, and Gilbert Burns, and in his last fight, mauled middleweight legend Robert Whittaker to a violent, first-round submission win. That win over Whittaker — who Strickland spent much of last year refusing to fight — was more impressive than anything the American has done outside of beating Israel Adesanya to win the middleweight title in 2023. Chimaev is also at least as big of a star as Strickland.

For whatever reason, the UFC saw fit to have Du Plessis and Strickland run it back first, but now that that's been taken care of, it's time to do what's right and give Chimaev his opportunity.

It's an opportunity he has seemed destined for since he arrived in the UFC during the Covid-19 pandemic, and rattled off three straight stoppage wins in a matter of months. While his progress has been slowed by health issues, he is now undeniable.

At this point, Du Plessis is clearly one of the best pound-for-pound fighters alive. While he tends to fight like his shoelaces are tied together, his awkward style has proven incredibly effective, confounding the likes of Adesanya, Whittaker, and Strickland.

Despite that, he might well enter the cage with Chimaev as an underdog — maybe even a significant one. One way or the other, it's one of the most compelling fights that the UFC could make right now and one that will have fans marking their calendars in anticipation — which could hardly be said of Du Plessis's UFC 312 rematch with Strickland.

There's no other fight to make. Now's the time.

Dricus du Plessis held on to his UFC middleweight title with a unanimous decision win in his rematch against Sean Strickland at UFC 312 from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Strickland got off to an uncharacteristically slow start in the first round. He didn't throw nearly as many strikes as he is known for and Du Plessis was able to get the nod in the first round.

Du Plessis did well to establish some body kicks in the early rounds. Strickland started the second round strong, but faded while Du Plessis output generally stayed steady throughout the round.

Strickland had some good moments in the third round. He landed a few punches cleanly, However, Du Plessis did enough to make the round interesting to score.

Du Plessis put together one of his best sequences of the fight in Round 3. He clubbed a Strickland with a staggering right hand and appeared to break his opponent's nose.

Ultimately Du Plessis' ability to mix head kicks, body kicks and unorthodox strikes were enough to disrupt Stricklands assault and keep the belt around his waist in dominant fashion.

The win not only confirms the South African's status as the champion of the middleweight division but it gives him a 2-0 record against his American rival. Strickland's brief run as the middleweight champion was cut short by a split-decision loss to Du Plessis.

A second loss to Du Plessis gives a little more closure to the pairing.

Du Plessis has now defended the belt twice. But his goals in the division are much greater than simply winning the belt and defending it two or three times.

"[I always told myself]: 'I need to win this next fight, because this is the fight that is going to get me the next one," he said, per Leonard Solms of ESPN. "This is the fight that's leading to the ultimate goal of being the greatest, so regardless of what's on the line, the fight needs to be won.'"

So while Du Plessis has his sights set on becoming one of the greatest fighters of all time, he realizes that's a goal that has to be earned one fight at a time.

The question will now shift to who that next matchup will be against.

The obvious answer is Khamzat Chimeav. UFC President Dana White mentioned that he was "in line" for a title shot when speaking to media the week of the fight. The 30-year-old is undefeated and finally seems to have found a home in the 185-pound weight class.

Nassourdine Imavov shouldn't be discounted either, though. The Sniper stunned Israel Adesanya with a second-round TKO and has racked up a 4-0 record since February 2024.

Israel Adesanya doesn't appear to be considering retirement despite suffering a swift defeat at the hands of Nassourdine Imavov during the UFC Fight Night 250 main event in Saudi Arabia.

Adesanya posted a video of himself reacting to the fight on social media afterwards, writing "I'll be back" in the caption.

The former UFC middleweight champion suffered a knockout loss in the second round to Imavov on Saturday, causing his overall record to fall to 24-5.

While Adensanya lost three of his past four fights heading into Saturday's bout, it was still a surprising result. He appeared to be off to a strong start against Imavov, winning the first round on all three scorecards from the judges.

In the second round, Adesanya was sent to the floor with a right hand to the chin by Imavov and was finished off with a left hand before covering up and subsequently ending the fight.

The 35-year-old was noncommittal regarding his future immediately following the defeat.

"I don't know, I have to chill then think about things," Adesanya said, via Yahoo Sports' Drake Riggs. "I'll relax first for a little bit, just to help the teammates who have fights coming up, and yeah, see what I want to do. I was going to do that anyway, but now I'm forced to. Shout out to Nassourdine for that."

Although Adesanya lost in his first nonchampionship appearance since 2019, UFC CEO Dana White was still impressed with the performance.

"I thought Izzy looked incredible until he got caught," White said, via ESPN's Brett Okamoto. "He was picking him apart, staying on the outside, takedown defense was incredible, chopping that calf kick. That whole round, he couldn't have had a better first round, but then he got caught."

Adesanya suffered a swift defeat on Saturday, but he already appears to be preparing for a return to the Octagon.

Israel Adesanya's evening came to a quick end on Saturday in Saudi Arabia.

The former UFC middleweight champion fell via knockout in the second round to Nassourdine Imavov, dropping his overall record to 24-5.

The defeat represents the third straight for Adesanya, and fans promptly took to social media to question the 35-year-old's future in the sport.

Adesanya began his career 20-0 before taking his first career loss in 2021. Since that loss, he has gone 4-5 and lost the UFC Middleweight Championship. The fight against Imanov was Adesanya's first non-title fight since 2019 and it will take a significant reversal in fortune for him to re-obtain his former glory.

This was the second time Adesanya lost due to a knockout and it was the shortest lost fight he has had in his career.

He does not currently have his next fight scheduled.