While speaking in a video posted to Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel, coach Alan Nascimento recalled Du Plessis and his coach claiming they welcomed wrestling battles. Chimaev’s trained suggested that whoever was in charge of preparing the South African on the ground should be fired.

Khamzat Chimaev finally lived up to his early promise on Saturday night, utterly dominating Dricus du Plessis to claim the UFC middleweight championship at UFC 319.

Whittaker, who was quickly submitted by Chimaev at UFC 308, went on to lose his second-straight fight to Reinier de Ridder (21-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) last month in the UFC on ABC 9 headliner. De Ridder was able to survive a Round 3 knockdown to outlast Whittaker.

Unlike his two prior title defences, the build-up to Dricus du Plessis’ third title defence, against Khamzat Chimaev, has been strictly focused on the action inside the octagon.