Robert Whittaker cautions Alex Pereira about taking on Dricus du Plessis at middleweight

It was Dricus du Plessis‘ UFC 290 win over former champion Robert Whittaker that put him over so to speak.  He had beaten Darrin Till and Derek Brunson heading into the Whittaker title eliminator bout but his win over “The Reaper” let everyone know that there was a new face in the top tier of the 185-pound division.

Du Plessis fought for the title in his next fight against then-champion Sean Strickland.  He narrowly defeated “Tarzan” to capture UFC gold.  At UFC 305 on Aug. 18, du Plessis successfully defended the belt for the first time against former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya.  The win drew the attention of light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.  

“Coming down to 185 one more time.” Pereira said after watching du Plessis defeat Adesanya.  Whittaker doesn’t think it’s the best idea for Pereira to drop back down to middleweight to take on the champion.  

“Honestly, I don’t think that’s a good fight for him (Pereira),” Whittaker told Submission Radio.  “I don’t think that’s a good fight for him.”  

Having success in a division up is one thing.  It’s pretty common.  Daniel Cormier, Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, etc. have pulled it off.  It can have advantages like speed and not having to cut weight.  But moving down a division hasn’t typically been a recipe for a successful outcome.  It didn’t work out for former lightweight champions Frankie Edgar, or BJ Penn, or former featherweight titleholder Cody Garbrandt, to name a few.  

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“When you move up to light heavyweight, moving back down is tricky,” Whittaker said.  “It’s not like you move up for one fight.  He’s stayed up there.  He’s been fighting up there for awhile now, so it would take a lot out of him to get down.  And Dricus is so strong there.”

“Alex gets hit, and Dricus likes getting hit.  It’s hard to see someone with the amount of power to stop Dricus from walking forward into you,” Whittaker continued.  “Dricus hits hard.  You saw that in the fight with Adesanya.  Adesanya has like a really good chin.  Dricus was still hurting him enough to make him uncomfortable.”

Pereira puts his 205-pound title on the line in the UFC 307 main event against Khalil Rountree Jr. in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5.  Whittaker faces the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi.  Du Plessis is expected to rematch Strickland in his next title defense.