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UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis doesn’t have his first title defense set up yet, but he is already planning for an eventual move up a weight class to light heavyweight.
The champion plans first on defending the gold against former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Khamzat Chimaev, then moving up to 205 pounds.
“I believe beating Adesanya – if Khamzat beats Whittaker, beating Khamzat, that earns you a spot at light heavyweight,” Du Plessis said on The Sias du Plessis Show (transcript via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “Because then if you look at the greats, the boogeyman everybody seems to be scared of in Khamzat, I would love that fight. Fighting Izzy (Adesanya), beating Izzy, one of the best middleweights to ever do it, and beating Robert Whittaker, one of the other best middleweights, that earns you that spot.
“But like I said, I have no problems defending my belt a few times before that. For now, my focus is 100 percent on that middleweight division and my next fight, which in all likelihood will be Israel Adesanya, and that’s where all my focus is. Obviously that’s in the trajectory for me, but none of the other plans can come together without this.”
Du Plessis and Adesanya are rumored to be fighting later this year at UFC 305, but nothing has been made official at this time.
