Du Plessis is in the form of his life after winning 11 in a row to reach the UFC’s middleweight summit. He captured the middleweight title with victory over Sean Strickland, then cemented his status with title defenses against Israel Adesanya and Strickland to firmly establish himself as the man to beat at 185 pounds.
While Du Plessis has been winning over the doubters, one fighter who remains unimpressed is UFC welterweight champion, who said that middleweight was the easiest weight class in the UFC, and that he could step up and become middleweight champion in the future.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Du Plessis laughed off those comments.
“Belal Muhammad, I can’t even remember the way he fights, I don’t know. Has he ever finished anyone?” he said.
“I like how he acts as if he has a choice to ever go up to 185. The UFC will never let him.
“If he wanted to, he’d have to abandon his belt, give up his belt, vacate, and go up to 185, and there’s no way they give him a direct title shot. There’s no way. The UFC doesn’t even like Belal Muhammad.
“He hasn’t even defended his belt once. He’s definitely better on Twitter than he is when he fights, let’s just say that.”
Both men are awaiting their next fight bookings, with Muhammad likely to face undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov, while Du Plessis looks set to take on Khamzat Chimaev. If both champions retain their belts in those matchups, there’s a chance the UFC might look to book the pair in a title bout, though Du Plessis is far from convinced.
“No, that would be unfair,” Du Plessis said.
“If I fight Belal Muhammad, it would be unfair. One hundred percent, have you seen the size of the man? What is he going to do?
“Is he going to get somebody to help him? Is he going to sit on somebody’s neck? How is it going to work? He’s the smallest – I couldn’t believe that he’s at 170 when I saw him. I couldn’t believe that he fights at 170.”
And, when asked to give a prediction for how that fight would go, Du Plessis was emphatic.
“I step on his head and it’s over,” he stated.
“That’s how that fight goes.”
