UFC analyst Michael Bisping believes Dricus Du Plessis would be a tough challenge for Alex Pereira.
South African Du Plessis, the current UFC middleweight champion, returned to action in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 305 card in Perth, Australia, submitting MMA legend Israel Adesanya in the fourth round to retain his title.
Shortly after the fight, light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira took to social media to express his interest in returning to middleweight to challenge Du Plessis.
Speaking at the UFC 305 post-fight press conference, Du Plessis accepted Pereira’s challenge but suggested the potential fight should occur at light heavyweight, rather than middleweight.
Bisping, a former middleweight champion, is a supporter of that idea and believes Du Plessis has the skills to emerge victorious.
“As a fan, I would love to see Dricus vs. Alex Pereira,” he said on his YouTube channel. “I’ll tell you what, I think it’s a fight where he would give Pereira a lot of trouble. We don’t see much grappling from Pereira.
“The way he submitted Israel Adesanya, something no one else has been able to do, if he can do that to Izzy, he can probably do it to Alex Pereira.
While Bisping is excited about a potential fight between Pereira and Du Plessis, he noted that Pereira is currently scheduled to defend his title against Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 on Oct. 5.
He also argued that if Pereira beats Rountree, he should defend his title against No. 1 contender Magomed Ankalaev before Du Plessis gets the chance.
“Pereira has to get past Khalil Rountree,” he said. “That’s not something that can be taken for granted.
“If he wins, and I assume he will be the big favourite with the bookmakers, Magomed Ankalaev will be next in line.”
Pereira, a former two-pision Glory kickboxing champion, became a UFC champion for the first time in 2022, when he knocked out Adesanya to claim the middleweight belt. After losing the belt to Adesanya in a rematch, he then moved up to light heavyweight and, late last year, won the pision’s vacant title with a knockout of Jiri Prochazka. He has defended the belt twice since then, first knocking out former champion Jamahal Hill and then knocking out Prochazka again in a rematch.
Du Plessis won the middleweight belt with a close decision over Sean Strickland earlier this year. His win over Adesanya marked the first successful title defense of his reign.
