Magomed Ankalaev told BOSTANOV MMA this week that Dricus du Plessis has come up in talks for his next fight, and that the fight would be at light heavyweight. “Yes, he wants to move up and it’s possible that they will book a fight between us,” Ankalaev said. He was also clear that he likes the idea: “It’s a good fight for me, and I’m interested in it myself.” FREAK.MMA and others on X framed it as a target for one of the UFC’s December events. MiddleEasy noted there’s no agreement and no date, and Ankalaev hedged the whole thing himself: “That’s the only information we have for now, we don’t have anything else.”
Then du Plessis’ side answered, and it read like a polite no. His coach told the Fight Forecast Show that the UFC had pitched a 205-pound grand prix with du Plessis, Jiri Prochazka, Navajo Stirling and Ankalaev. “They wanted four guys to go into the pool and fight in one night. Then the winners of that fight each other, and the winner of that fights Ulberg,” the coach said. “I said no... we will do it gradually. But we want our belt back, and we want to defend it once.” Jed Meshew summed up the mood on X: “This is the first time in like 4 years that the UFC was gonna do something cool and DDP killed it.”
Why the UFC keeps dialing this number
Both men are former champions with crowded calendars and nowhere obvious to go. Ankalaev beat Bogdan Guskov on July 25 in Abu Dhabi to get back in the win column after losing his belt, and that wasn’t enough to earn a rematch for the title. He’d told the UFC he wanted to return in October. He also hasn’t let go of the Alex Pereira loss, calling it “a lucky punch” and saying he believes Pereira rushed him because Pereira’s side knew he was carrying an injury.
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Du Plessis is in a similar jam at 185. He lost the middleweight title last year, rebounded by beating Kamaru Usman in July and holds two wins over current champion Sean Strickland. Strickland, though, has been posting about his pay, and MMA Mania reported he’s openly threatening to quit rather than defend. Nassourdine Imavov is waiting too. The UFC has already shown it’ll move contenders across divisions when the path is blocked (Diego Lopes gets Charles Oliveira for the BMF title at lightweight on Dec. 12 at UFC 335), so sending du Plessis up to fill a main event is a logical thing for matchmakers to try.
The striking, my read
Ankalaev is a patient counter fighter who picks his moment. His first UFC win came off a right hook counter that dropped Marcin Prachnio, followed by a head kick and a punch that finished it. In his debut he had Paul Craig badly hurt with a body kick in Round 1. He wants you to commit first.
Du Plessis is happy to commit first, second and third. He won K-1 gold at the WAKO World Championships at 17, and in the UFC his style looks awkward and a little reckless until you realize the volume is the point. Against Robert Whittaker he stayed busy and got the TKO in Round 2. My read: that volume charges a real tax against a counter puncher with Ankalaev’s timing, and du Plessis would be paying it against a bigger man than he’s ever met in the UFC.
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The grappling is where it gets fun
Ankalaev’s base is wrestling and combat sambo. He trained Greco-Roman for a year at university and holds a Master of Sports title in combat sambo. He can strike, take you down and sit on you, and that blend won him a lot of rounds against Nikita Krylov, Volkan Oezdemir and Thiago Santos, all decisions.
Du Plessis started judo at five and wrestling at 12, and his signature weapon on the regional scene was the guillotine. He choked Martin van Staden in Round 3, Yannick Bahati at 1:30 of Round 1 and Brendan Lesar in the first. Against someone like Ankalaev, who will level change for takedowns, that front headlock is a live threat every time he shoots. It’s also the one hole in Ankalaev’s record that’s ever been exploited: Craig caught him in a triangle at 4:59 of Round 3. Du Plessis has a habit of closing late himself (Derek Brunson’s corner stopped it at 4:59 of Round 2, and he submitted Darren Till in Round 3), so the deep rounds would belong to whoever still has legs.
The weight cut question
MMA Mania reported that du Plessis cuts a lot of weight, and he told The Sias du Plessis Show, “I’m big enough for that division, and I’m certain I can be champion at that division as well.” I’m sympathetic. Too many fighters drain themselves to make a number and then fade in the third round, and a du Plessis who skips that cut could look sharper late than he ever did at 185. Still, Ankalaev has spent his entire UFC career at 205, and being bigger on fight night matters most in exactly the clinch and front-headlock scrambles where du Plessis does his best work.
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If they fight, I’m taking Ankalaev on the scorecards. His counters and top control steal rounds clean, and judges reward exactly that. Du Plessis’ path is the guillotine on a tired takedown attempt in Round 3 or later, which is a real path, just a narrow one.
What happens next
A December date looks dead on du Plessis’ timeline. His own words were “I want to get my belt back and eventually go up to 205 and go test myself there,” and his coach wants a title regained and defended once before any move. UFC 335 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas already has Oliveira vs. Lopes on top and Pereira vs. Sergei Pavlovich at heavyweight in the co-main. The next big card is UFC 336 in Toronto on Jan. 30, the same city where du Plessis took the belt from Strickland by split decision in January 2024. No bouts have been announced for it, and Ankalaev, who wanted to fight in October, is still waiting for a name that says yes.
