John McDougall
Joe Rogan has had his say on what could happen when Dricus du Plessis takes on undefeated Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC.
Du Plessis successfully defended his UFC middleweight championship over the weekend after unanimously defeating Sean Strickland.
The fight went all five rounds in the Octagon at UFC 312 held in Sydney, Australia, but all three judges scored the fight in Du Plessis's favour with scores of 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46.
It means Du Plessis's professional MMA record now stands at an impressive 23 wins from 25 fights and only two defeats, one of each by knockout and the other by submission.
The victory over Strickland was a rematch of their 2024 fight at UFC 297, which Du Plessis won on that occasion via a split decision.
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Strickland's professional MMA records now stands at 29 victories from 36 matches with seven losses, two of which were by knockout and five on decision.
The stage has now been set for Du Plessis to take on take on undefeated Chimaev, whose record stands at 14 wins from as many fights.
Indeed, speaking after defeating Strickland for the second time, Du Plessis would like to eventually fight UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, but is keen to take on Chimaev first.
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Speaking in the post-fight press conference, he said: "Khamzat is first. Pereira is such a legend in this sport already that to me it would be amazing to beat him for my legacy.
"I want to be the greatest to ever do this, but Khamzat is next, Khamzat is next, and I’m gonna make sure that there's no question I’m the goat of the middleweight decision.
"Anderson Silva, in my mind, is the goat of this division and you have [Israel] Adesanya, who has done incredible things.
"But it’s not about how many times you fight, it's about how many times you defend the belt and who you've done it against and in what period of time you've done it.
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"I'm not rushing for my next fight to be Alex Pereira. I want Khamzat next."
UFC color commentator Rogan has had his say on what he feels could happen when the pair meet in the Octagon and admitted it is uncertain what the outcome could be.
Speaking on the latest edition of his podcast the Joe Rogan Experience, he said: "It's hard to say. We don't know what would happen with Khamzat.
"Khamzat just shoots from like 15 feet away and gets a hold of your legs so quick.
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"You've got to think that his endurance is probably going to be better at 85 than it was at 70 because of the cut for Khamzat. 85 is really where he should have been all the way along."
Midway through the podcast, it became known that UFC president Dana White had confirmed that the fight between Du Plessis and Chimaev will be taking place.