Robert Whittaker doesn’t see how Dricus Du Plessis or Sean Strickland can cease Khamzat Chimaev’s grappling.
Middleweight champion Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) will rematch Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) within the UFC 312 important occasion Feb. 8 at Qudos Financial institution Area in Sydney.
Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), who ran via Whittaker for a first-round submission at UFC 308 in October, is anticipated to face the winner.
Whittaker had his enamel crushed by Chimaev’s face crank once they clashed, and the previous champ doesn’t see Du Plessis or Strickland having the ability to cease Chimaev’s first explosive takedown.
“I feel he simply takes them down and does the identical factor, like not essentially to me however how he beat (Kamaru) Usman or how he beat Gilbert Burns,” Whittaker mentioned on his “MMArcade Podcast.” “I can see these type of fights.
“I feel he’d have extra success with Strickland than Du Plessis simply because Du Plessis is sort of a large dude. Stopping that first takedown is so loopy. The best way he shoots that first shot is loopy. How do you cease that dude? Soar over him?”
Du Plessis edged Strickland by cut up resolution of their first assembly at UFC 297. Regardless of it being an in depth contest, Whittaker doesn’t assume Strickland could make the changes to avenge his loss.
“In my view, I don’t see the battle going any completely different,” Whittaker mentioned. “Du Plessis is such a canine in there. He’s going to return with the identical aggressiveness and recreation plan. What might Sean do in another way to alter the result than final time?”
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