December 10, 2024 5:45 pm ET
Robert Whittaker doesn’t see how Dricus Du Plessis or Sean Strickland can cease Khamzat Chimaev’s grappling.
Middleweight champion Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) will rematch Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) within the UFC 312 foremost occasion Feb. 8 at Qudos Financial institution Enviornment in Sydney.
Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), who ran by means of Whittaker for a first-round submission at UFC 308 in October, is anticipated to face the winner.
Whittaker had his teeth crushed by Chimaev’s face crank once they clashed, and the previous champ doesn’t see Du Plessis or Strickland having the ability to cease Chimaev’s first explosive takedown.
“I feel he simply takes them down and does the identical factor, like not essentially to me however how he beat (Kamaru) Usman or how he beat Gilbert Burns,” Whittaker stated on his “MMArcade Podcast.” “I can see these form of fights. “I feel he’d have extra success with Strickland than Du Plessis simply because Du Plessis is sort of a massive dude. Stopping that first takedown is so loopy. The way in which he shoots that first shot is loopy. How do you cease that dude? Soar over him?”
Du Plessis edged Strickland by split decision of their first assembly at UFC 297. Regardless of it being an in depth contest, Whittaker doesn’t suppose Strickland could make the changes to avenge his loss.
“For my part, I don’t see the battle going any completely different,” Whittaker stated. “Du Plessis is such a canine in there. He’s going to return with the identical aggressiveness and sport plan. What might Sean do otherwise to alter the end result than final time?”
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