Chael Sonnen sees big stakes for Dricus Du Plessis if he can get his hand raised at UFC 319.
Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) defends his UFC middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in the Aug. 16 main event from United Center in Chicago (ESPN+, ESPN, pay-per-view).
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By handing Chimaev his first-career loss, Sonnen says Du Plessis would move up a couple of spots in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings. Du Plessis holds two wins over Sean Strickland, and finishes over former middleweight champions Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya.
“In a division that tough, and I used to be the king at middleweight, I knew middleweights inside and out, they did not have 10 Anderson Silvas at middleweight, but they do now,” Sonnen said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Daniel Cormier. If Dricus can go out and look good and get the win over Chimaev, I think he all of a sudden is going to be flirting with Islam’s space and Ilia’s space.
“He’s going to be flirting with the top three, and that’s the only way we know how to compliment them in our industry, we give them a belt, we give them a main event, then we give them a little bit more, and that top three pound-for-pound placing is very within reach right now for Dricus.”
Oddsmakers are currently not favoring that outcome as Du Plessis enters his fight with Chimaev as a slight +150 underdog according to DraftKings.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Analyst: UFC 319 win makes Dricus Du Plessis top three pound-for-pound
