Key Takeaways from UFC 319 Main Event

As a South African fight fan, Sunday morning’s UFC Middleweight title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev was a very difficult watch! It’s one thing watching one of our national teams get outclassed and humbled, but there is just something uneasy about watching our top MMA athlete get ragdolled!

Here are my take-aways from the UFC 319 main event.

POSITIVES

• Du Plessis became the first person to ever takedown Chimaev in the UFC.
• Du Plessis never gave up, going the distance – when many others probably would not have – despite almost record breaking ground control and strikes landed.
• Du Plessis was able to ensure that most of the +500 strikes landed on him were “essentially taps” and not too mant significant strikes.
• Du Plessis defended takedowns better as the fight wore on, defending 5 of the attempted 11 takedowns in the final 2 rounds – this while not defending any in the opening 3 rounds.
• Du Plessis evenually showed some resistance in the final two minutes of the final round with a submission attempt of his own.

NEGATIVES

• First loss of Du Plessis’ UFC career.
• 8 seconds for the first takedown!
• Allowed 12 takedowns (from 17 attempts), the second most in a UFC middleweight fight and tied for third most in a title fight since 2015.
• Absolutely no answer for the blanket wrestling approach of Chimaev.
• First 10-8 round in Du Plessis’ fighting career.
• Du Plessis was controlled for 21:40 of a possible 25 minutes. Prior to this fight, Du Plessis had previously only spent 4:56 in bottom position throughout his UFC career. In round one against Chimaev, he spent 4:46 on his back!
• Chimaev outlanded Du Plessis 529-45, although most can certainly not be considered damaging, but as former opponent Robert Whitaker pointed out in a recent podcast, “those shots add up”! 
• In the final moments of the bout, Du Plessis gave up position for submission too early in a last-ditch effort to pull-off a dramatic come-from-behind victory.

Having taken some time to review the fight, there a a few key questions for this writer; 

• What mental impact will this crushing loss have on Du Plessis?
• Was Du Plessis and his team not prepared for what they experienced? It’s clear they underestimated Chimaev’s grappling!
• Will this performance serve as a sizeable helping of “humble pie” for Du Plessis’s team, especially considering the Coach’s comments in the buildup to this bout?
• Understanding Du Plessis’ pedigree in South African terms, is there anyone locally who can assist in improving his wrestling skills enough to challenge the likes of Chimaev?
• Who does Du Plessis fight next in order to bounce back and position himself for another title run?

Elite level MMA is often described as a sport of inches. The main event at UFC 319 showed that there are in fact varying degrees of inches and if levels dictate the quality of athletes and there ability to perform, we have some way to go in order to level-up!

IMAGE CREDIT: BJPenn.com