Kamaru Usman names problematic matchup for UFC champ Dricus Du Plessis

Kamaru Usman believes UFC champion Dricus Du Plessis still has some work to do before moving up a division.

Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) retained his middleweight title by defeating Sean Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) a second time in Saturday’s UFC 312 headliner at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Du Plessis called out light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira after the fight but later revealed he wants to fight Khamzat Chimaev first.

Many view Chimaev as Du Plessis’ toughest fight at 185 pounds, but Usman believes Nassourdine Imavov (16-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC), who’s coming off a knockout win over Israel Adesanya at UFC Fight Night 250, can also pose problems.

“If he (Du Plessis) fought a guy like Nassourdine Imavov the way that he fought Sean Strickland last night, I don’t like that fight for DDP,” Usman said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo. “I don’t like it. We saw how the standup was with Israel.

“When you primarily just stand up with Nassourdine Imavov, man, he might be the sharper guy besides Israel Adesanya right now with the striking in that division. Sharp hands, I would have to go also with … Brendan Allen’s got really, really good hands.”

If Du Plessis can get past Chimaev and Imavov, that’s when Usman thinks it warrants a move up to light heavyweight – even though he sees Pereira as a bad matchup.

“I want to see those two fights first: Khamzat Chimaev, potentially Nassourdine Imavov, then potentially move up,” Usman said. “Because at that point, yes, you can say I’ve gone through that top five in that division. Yeah, I deserve to move up. But if he does move up, I don’t know if I favor him against Alex Pereira. That’s blasphemy.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.