UFC veteran highlights how Dricus du Plessis' five-round proficiency may have backfired against Khamzat Chimaev: "No sense of urgency"

Khamzat Chimaev dominated Dricus du Plessis across five rounds at UFC 319 to claim the UFC middleweight throne.

Former UFC lightweight fighter Josh Thomson pointed out that du Plessis appeared to approach the opening rounds as if he had extra time to recover. The mindset, according to Thomson, cost him valuable moments in a bout controlled entirely by Chimaev.

Du Plessis has built a reputation on endurance and late-fight resilience, but against Chimaev, that approach led to long spells of inactivity. He spent the first round trapped in a crucifix and the second pressed against the fence, showing little urgency to change positions or force his opponent into deeper waters.

Reacting to the fight and du Plessis' approach in a recent episode of the WEIGHING IN podcast, Thomson said:

"What I saw tonight was a champion who's kind of used to fighting five rounds. And have you seen this before, where fighters that are used to fighting five rounds? They constantly just think that you have one more round. I've got another round. Like they can do it all night. They can fight all night. And so they just continue to think like I've got one more round. Like I can let this one go."

He added:

"I saw this with Jason Jackson when he fought the Russian kid [Ramazan Kuramagomedov] that was in PFL. He fought when he lost his title. He just thought he had one more round... He realized you lost the first two rounds [because] you just gave them away. Very similar in this situation where he was just on one knee on the first round, he was just in crucifix position, and couldn't get out... And no sense of urgency to stand up."

Check out Josh Thomson's comments below:

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Dricus du Plessis admits Khamzat Chimaev’s control was difficult to escape at UFC 319

Dricus du Plessis admitted that Khamzat Chimaev’s grappling left him without answers in their middleweight title clash at UFC 319.

Du Plessis said that he felt smothered throughout the contest. He was forced to choose between defending his back or staying pinned underneath. Speaking at the post-fight octagon interview, he said:

“The man has incredible control on the top. He was just like a blanket. It wasn’t a matter of strength, it wasn’t that physical, it was just almost as if he knew what your next move was going to be. He got it without using too much power and I had to decide am I going to be on my back or have him on my back? At the end, I went for it, had the back, I could almost taste that victory.”