Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov recently weighed in on the upcoming middleweight clash between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev, offering sharp insight that could shape the Chechen’s performance.
When breaking down the matchup, Khabib didn’t pull punches about Du Plessis.
“He’s very tough. He’s gonna scrap,”
Khabib said.
“He’s an interesting opponent. Kind of an unorthodox kickboxer. He throws hands and legs.”
Khabib noted that while Du Plessis isn’t laser-precise, his sheer output makes him dangerous.
“What’s good — or rather, what’s bad — about Du Plessis is… He’s not super accurate, but he throws a lot. He’s always throwing hands and legs, constantly. Always attacking.”
That pressure overwhelmed Sean Strickland, a matchup where many expected Strickland’s style to suffocate him — instead, Du Plessis walked him down and did the damage.
Khabib didn’t just analyze — he offered a game plan.
“I think — personally — I would advise Khamzat to strike with him,”
Khabib said, believing Khamzat has the edge in boxing. But there was a caveat.
“There’s just this one thing — you can try to force things early. Like first round or two. But if you don’t finish him, you’ll burn a lot of energy. And later, you’ll need it in championship rounds.”
Khabib pointed out a recurring pattern in Chimaev’s matches against names like Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns.
“In the later rounds, he stops wrestling. He starts striking instead. Wrestles at first. If that fails — goes to striking. But if he had just struck from the beginning against those guys, he’d have done better.”
Khabib highlighted Du Plessis’s experience as a major advantage.
“And that guy — how many years now? Four years? He’s… Even before the title. Main events too. He’s got massive experience.”
Khamzat, on the other hand, has never been through a full five-rounder. That matters when exhaustion sets in.
“When you’re preparing for a fight like that, you have to consider all possible scenarios. You can’t go in like, ‘I’ll just wreck him.’ You’ve got to think: what if it goes this way, what if that happens, or this comes up.”
Khabib sees this matchup as a turning point in Chimaev’s path.
“It’s kind of like a climactic moment. Like everything you’ve been doing, preparing for, it’s all led to this — now you have to deliver. All or nothing. Now’s the time to shine.”
While Khabib respects Du Plessis as someone who will “fight till the end,” he believes Chimaev has clear avenues to win — if he keeps a cool head and doesn’t gas out trying to bulldoze a seasoned opponent.
