Joe Rogan believes that Dricus Du Plessis might be confronted with an insurmountable climb back to gold after his defeat on Saturday evening.
Du Plessis was completely and completely dominated by Khamzat Chimaev in five rounds in a losing effort at UFC 319 in Chicago. Rogan looked from cageside and seemed to think that he has such mistakes in his game, in particular defensive struggling, that a comeback is unlikely.
Du Plessis had looked unbeatable in the UFC despite an unorthodox style to the defeat of Saturday. After he had pronounced Robert Whittaker and was extracted from Sean Strickland in 2024 in 2024, he defeated Israel Adesanya and the American recovered in an impressive series of victories.
Joe Rogan Slams Drus Du Plessis and gives a warning after UFC 319
Immediately after the UFC 319 Main Event, Joe Rogan was asked for his view of the state of the middleweight division after a performance of 50-44 by Khamzat Chimaev. He did not get bumps on Dricus du Plessis, insisting that he may never be able to reach the necessary level to win back gold.
“The bookmakers were right,” Rogan began after it was noted that Chimaev was even a monstrous favorite as a challenger who went into the fight. I mean, for Dricus to come back and bridge the gap between him and Khamzat? That is a long task.
“It is a long task, because that kind of dominance, that kind of wrestling dominance, was not just a level. It was several levels, and it just didn't seem like he had an answer to that. I don't know who he brought in to train with him, but he clearly brought anyone in that kind of skill.”
Joe Rogan believes that Khamzat was Chimaev performance at UFC 319 “Eye opening”
Rogan even claimed that Chimaev's dominance was 'just ridiculous'. There was an argument that he might have earned more than one 10-8 round, although eventually a lack of damage scored him at 50-44 by all three judges.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
“Eye opening,” Rogan continued as he praised the performance. “What Dricus was able to achieve by beating boys like Whittaker, to hit him by submitting Adesanya, by beating Strickland twice, it was very impressive.
“But it was not as impressive as that. That dominance was just ridiculous …” What were the scores, such as, 50-44 across the board? That was just one 108 round. “