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Dricus Du Plessis is confident of his strength in the possible fight against Alex Pereira: “I will catch you at some point”

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PERTH, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 18: Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa fights Israel Adesanya of Nigeria in the middleweight championship fight during UFC 305 at RAC Arena on August 18, 2024 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Dricus Du Plessis wouldn't shy away from being alongside Alex Pereira if they fought.

Middleweight champion Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) is hoping for a win against light heavyweight champion Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) and he likes his chances against him. Du Plessis insists strength would not be a problem but admits range probably would.

Du Plessis overcame that reach in his last outing against Israel Adesanya, where he injured his feet and then was able to pressure him to retain his title at UFC 305.

“If I’m just talking about the stand-up competition, I’m not fighting a kickboxing fight,” Du Plessis told Submission Radio. “I fight an MMA fight and a kickboxing fight, you have to be able to land combos. You have to land massive punches all the time. If you rock a guy, you get an eight count – you have all these variables.” . Where in MMA, I don't care who you are: if I catch you with these little gloves on, you're going to go down, and I'm going to catch you eventually.

“Well, I told Izzy. He said I was too slow. I wouldn't be able to catch him. Well, yes. I wrote a post yesterday saying it may not be pretty, but damn, it's effective because “I'll catch you eventually, and then it's a whole different story because I'm not committed to one.” Kickboxing fight, and I'm kicking, but it's not a kickboxing fight, it's an MMA fight, and when I put those together, it's a completely different fight.

Du Plessis gave Pereira great respect and wouldn't even blame him if he decided to retire before getting the chance to fight him. But after watching Pereira's most recent title defense against Khalil Rountree – a fierce round 4 TKO at UFC 307 – the South African fighter believes Pereira is beatable.

“I really think he has power with a guy like Alex Pereira,” Du Plessis said. “I also have a lot of strength. Yes, he packs a punch. His hitting is incredible. That's why he has the kickboxing resume he has. But we saw with the Khalil Rountree fight – we saw a lot of things. Khalil had.” He really had success in the first two rounds.

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This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dricus Du Plessis confident of his strength in potential Alex Pereira fight: 'I'll catch you eventually'