While Dricus Du Plessis' next middleweight title fight will come at UFC 312 in February against Sean Strickland, the South African fighter has no choice but to tantalize No. 3-ranked Khamzat Chimaev.
The middleweight champion has been enjoying the festive period and for one of the most dangerous fighters in the world, that includes facing off against one of the most dangerous animals in the ocean.
Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images
Dricus Du Plessis drags Khamzat Chimaev over a prominent scar on his lip
Dricus Du Plessis is deep into training camp for his upcoming UFC title fight against Sean Strickland, although there is still plenty of time to enjoy the finer things in life.
It looks like this also means spending the Christmas holidays reeling in huge sharks off the South African coast.
Earlier today, the popular middleweight champion shared a series of images of him wrestling a good-sized shark in Oyster Bay, Eastern Cape, with Du Plessis captioning the post: “A number of new training partners have been brought in for camp, this one didn't make the cut . .”
The comments section is full of jokes and jabs, but when Du Plessis was told by a fan not to give the shark a quick kiss on the mouth, he couldn't help but troll his undefeated rival, Khamzat Chimaev.
“No way,” Du Plessis wrote in response, “that's what Khamzat tried and look how it turned out.”
Du Plessis has been vocal about his desire to face Chimaev in the UFC octagon for quite some time, even claiming in an interview with MainEventTV that there was talk about him fighting 'Borz' at UFC 312 instead of Strickland.
“I think most people wanted to see that Khamzat fight, myself included… Everyone now says they wanted the Khamzat fight, but the same fans were the ones calling for the Strickland rematch until Khamzat had the appearance against Rob [Whittaker].
“[A fight against Khamzat] was definitely on the table, but you know, we talked about it. It wasn't on my side or his side where the fight didn't happen. I think there were some issues with the UFC and Khamzat, I'm not sure, and timing, I think timing played a big role, but there were conversations.”
How did Khamzat Chimaev get the scar on his lip in the first place?
It should go without saying, but Chimaev didn't get his prominent scar from a wrestling match with a shark – so how did the insanely talented wrestler get this mark in the first place?
In a previous interview shared by SportBible, Chimaev revealed that he suffered the scar after falling down a flight of stairs at just two years old.
“My mother told me this, but I don't remember it myself, I was two years old and we had a big staircase in our house, and I fell down [them] on the concrete,” Chimaev explained.
“I had a torn lip; some of my teeth were knocked out and I also broke my nose,” he explained before revealing that he “still can't breathe out of my right nostril all these years later.”
Khamzat Chimaev climbed to #3 in the UFC rankings after his demolition of Robert Whittaker in October, with only Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland between him and Du Plessis.
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