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Dricus Du Plessis Responds To Alex Pereira Teasing Return To Middleweight

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Dricus Du Plessis Responds To Alex Pereira Teasing Return To Middleweight

Last night, Dricus Du Plessis submitted Israel Adesanya via rear naked choke in the fourth round to retain the Middleweight Championship at UFC 305. After Du Plessis’ win, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira teased a potential move back to the middleweight division.

During the UFC 305 post-fight press conference, Dricus Du Plessis responded to The Poatan. Du Plessis said that he will come to the light heavyweight division after defeating the middleweight No. 1 contender Sean Strickland.

“I honestly don’t think Alex Pereira should drop down to 185. If he wants to? Great. Perfect. But then we’re going to hear the excuses. I saw Izzy stiff that man in the [second] round. I felt Izzy’s punching power. Izzy has great timing. He’s fast, he’s long and he has great combinations, but I felt the power. If Izzy stiffens you like that, you do not want to be there in with me – especially not when you’re going to come with the excuse of, ‘I cut too much weight.’ That’s going to happen. Everyone is going to say that. Stay at 205, and fight your fight against the No. 8 ranked guy [Khalil Rountree Jr]. Fight your fight there and enjoy it. If Strickland is the next fight, the people want to see that fight; if that’s the fight that people want to see and that’s the fight right now people think is the next best guy, then it’s the fight that I want. So let me handle my business; you handle your business. You don’t have to cut the weight, so you have some sort of excuse. I’ll come up after the Strickland fight. I’ll come up to 205, and we’ll sort it out there.”

In an interview with Submission Radio, Dricus Du Plessis’ head coach, Morne Visser, was asked about a potential fight between Du Plessis and Pereira. Visser said that he hoped UFC would book the fight in December.

“I won’t give [Alex Pereira] the joy to come down to 185 [pounds], we’ll just go up. We don’t want to beat him, and then he says that he had to go down and he was fatigued. We’ll go up; I’m sure the UFC will be okay with that. He’s fighting in October, so I really hope the UFC gives us this blessing for December. As soon as that.”

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