Du Plessis Reaches Middleweight Limit

Khamzat Chimaev successfully made weight at 183lb, which is 2lb under the limit, for his highly anticipated contest against middleweight titleholder Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319, set to take place this Saturday at Chicago’s United Centre.

This weight is 3lb lighter than Chimaev’s weight for his victory over Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 in 2024, and 2.5lb less than his weight for the win against Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 in 2023.

Movsar Evloev, Chimaev’s training partner and friend, mentioned that ‘Borz’ weighed 220lb when training began.

Evloev stated, “In his fight against Whittaker, he secured takedowns and dominated him. Nobody had been able to do that against Whittaker, and Khamzat still possesses significant punching power; he can knock you out with a single punch.”

Later, Dricus du Plessis stepped on the scales, completing a significant transformation by dropping from over 230lb to meet the 185lb middleweight limit.

In a recent interview, the middleweight champion acknowledged the necessity of cutting 45lb to meet the weight requirement for UFC 319.

“I think he’s even bigger than Du Plessis, of course he is; he’s big and strong as hell. I don’t know how much in pounds, but he was more than 100kg (220lb).”

Khamzat Chimaev has maintained an unblemished record of 14-0 since turning professional five years ago.

Du Plessis has also been impressive recently. In their UFC 312 rematch in February, he was victorious over Sean Strickland and secured a fourth-round submission against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.