Dana White assess Dricus du Plessis’ performance in UFC 319 blowout loss

Dana White has some thoughts on Dricus du Plessis’ performance at UFC 319.

“DDP” attempted to nab a third successful UFC middleweight title defense when he met Khamzat Chimaev this past Saturday. Instead, he was taken down and controlled throughout the five-round title fight in Chicago. Ultimately, du Plessis dropped a unanimous decision with scores of 50-44 across the board.

During the post-fight press conference, White opined on du Plessis being unable to find an answer to Chimaev’s grappling onslaught (via MMAFighting).

“Listen I don’t know how hard [the punches] are and I don’t want to f*cking know how hard they are,” White joked. “Nobody wants to be in a crucifix getting punched in the head like that. It’s got to be the most frustrating [position]. Suck the heart and soul right out of you type thing to happen. Just getting dominated on the ground the way that he did is no fun for anybody.

“I wouldn’t say oh he’s getting pitter-patter striked — his face was pretty busted up. The knees that he was taking to the body and to the legs and to the hips. It’s going to be a long ride home to South Africa.”

After the fight, du Plessis told Joe Rogan that he’ll go back to the drawing board, and he believes he can become a two-time UFC Middleweight Champion. It’ll be a tough sell for du Plessis as long as Chimaev rules the 185-pound division. “Stillknocks” looked far outmatched in the grappling department and only had a small bit of success near the end of the fight.

Still, du Plessis has never been short on confidence and it’ll interesting to see how far it takes him in the face of adversity. Once he gets some time to rest and recover, his next fight will be crucial in his quest to reclaim gold.