LAS VEGAS – Not many are giving Dricus Du Plessis a chance, and Robert Whittaker finds that crazy.
The former UFC middleweight champion doesn’t understand why fans, pundits and fighters are taking Du Plessis (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) lightly ahead of Saturday’s UFC 290 showdown. Whittaker (25-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) thinks it’s a big mistake to not consider Du Plessis a legitimate threat, and that’s likely why Du Plessis is still unbeaten in the UFC.
“I don’t understand anybody who underestimates their opponents,” Whittaker said at Wednesday’s media day. “We’re in the fight game, in the best company in the world with the best fighters in the world. I don’t understand where you think every single one of those guys in the division isn’t going to knock your block off. It just seems a little silly.
“He’s the guy you underestimate him, and he’s going to run over you, especially with his greatest strength which I think it’s his resilience. He’s been so close to defeat so many times and yet somehow scrapes a victory. That’s a scary trait to have.”
Whittaker has been fighting some of the best in the world ever since he joined the UFC in 2012. And despite having shared the cage with many greats, Whittaker believes Du Plessis is his toughest fight.
“Definitely, he’s the most dangerous fight to date, and that’s because he’s the one that’s unwritten,” Whittaker said. Everything in hindsight is easy, but yeah, he’s the unknown. And I understand the dangers he presents. Not only is he a well-rounded athlete, and physically he’s a big guy, he’s not a big fellow. He has nothing to lose. Everyone has already washed him. He’s the underdog in this fight. Tell me something more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose, everything to gain.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
