Muhammad Ali had once said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” Dricus Du Plessis is the embodiment of this because no matter how much adversity he faces in his fights, he never gives up. And that may be why he won against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 and now holds the middleweight title. ‘Stillknocks’ has tasted victory in all the eight fights he’s competed in under the UFC banner. On top of that, he has a record of 22 wins in MMA with 9 of them coming being knockouts and 11 of them, submissions. ‘Stillknocks’ does not know how to give up, something that former middleweight champ Luke Rockhold pointed out.

While speaking to Submission Radio Rockhold could not help but compliment the man he spent time training with. He said, “That’s what DDP is man. He was so tough man. I’d sparred with him and trained with him. He just didn’t he didn’t wanna quit. You know, technically at that time, I was a lot better than him. And he was just – I could beat him in a stand-up, I could beat him in the wrestling, but he would just never stop. So that’s the number one thing in fighting, is not stopping until you execute and you finish.” He also added that the South African juggernaut is an extremely focused and driven individual.

The 40-year-old also suggested that the UFC 312 fight against Sean Strickland wouldn’t be much trouble for ‘DDP’, given the middleweight champion’s focus and composure. Rockhold said, “Sean Strickland looks like he’s been through some f**king injuries and some weird s**t… He just doesn’t seem, like maybe his head isn’t in it as much… DDP seems like he’s kind of focused. I know that guy pretty well. Trained with him a lot. He knows what he’s gonna do.”

And true to his word, Dricus Du Plessis does seem to be pretty confident about beating Strickland decisively this time around. In other Du Plessis news, the middleweight champion was issued a challenge by the one touted as the P4P #1 fighter. Let’s see how ‘DDP’ responded.

Dricus Du Plessis comments on Islam Makhachev’s challenge to him

‘DDP’ couldn’t help but give the lightweight champion props for his UFC 311 performance. The way Islam Makhachev sunk in the D’Arce choke and squeezed every ounce of air from Moicano’s lungs greatly impressed ‘Stillknocks’. He expressed his awe of the moment to Main Event TV, saying, “Geez, he was so incredibly good against Moicano. He once again proved why he’s the pound-for-pound best in the world.” 

But in a twist, Makhachev made a bold claim about him beating Dricus Du Plessis if he ever moved up to middleweight. In reply, the middleweight champ said, “He trains with 185ers in his gym. He doesn’t train against me. Believe me. It’s not the same thing. Even on the technical level, like stand-up, that’s just, you know, his wrestling and grappling is phenomenal. I’m just overpowered. That’s what I think. It makes a massive difference. He’s a big lightweight, but I’m a big middleweight.”

While the Dagestani has an upper hand with his impressive grappling skills the South African star also has amazing skills with submission victories. 11 of his victories are through submission so a fight between them would be a power-packed performance and a true slugfest. What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

It’s an intriguing matchup to think about, but we haven’t seen many people jump up two weight classes, except for maybe Conor McGregor, BJ Penn, Kenny Florian, and Dan Henderson. Still, in the modern era of the UFC, ever pound matters. So it’s a bit difficult to imagine Islam Makhachev currently moving up in weight and beating Dricus Du Plessis.

We’re not saying it’s impossible. We’re just being reasonable here. What do you guys think? Will Makhachev be able to beat Du Plessis if he moves up to middleweight? Let us know in the comments down below.