Dricus Du Plessis trolls Khamzat Chimaev over prominent scar as he snaps picture with enormous shark in South Africa
12/27/2024 06:15 AM
Whilst Dricus Du Plessis' next middleweight title fight will arrive at UFC 312 in February against Sean Strickland, the South African brawler can't help but goad #3 ranked Khamzat Chimaev.
The middleweight champion has been enjoying the festive period and for one of the most dangerous fighters in the world, that includes facing off against one of the most dangerous animals in the ocean.
Dricus Du Plessis trolls Khamzat Chimaev over prominent scar on his lip
Dricus Du Plessis is deep in training camp for his upcoming UFC title fight against Sean Strickland, although there's still plenty of time to enjoy the finer things in life.
By the looks of things, that includes spending the Christmas holidays reeling in enormous sharks on the South African coastline.
Earlier today, the popular middleweight champion shared a series of images of him wrangling a sizable shark in Oyster Bay, Eastern Cape, with Du Plessis captioning the post: "Brought in some new training partners for camp, this one didn't make the cut."
The comments section is awash with jokes and jabs, although when told by one fan to avoid giving the shark a quick kiss on the mouth, Du Plessis couldn't help but troll his undefeated rival, Khamzat Chimaev.
"No way," wrote Du Plessis in response, "That's what Khamzat tried and look how that turned out."
Du Plessis has long been vocal about his desire to face Chimaev in the UFC octagon, even claiming in an interview with MainEventTV that there was a conversation about him fighting 'Borz' at UFC 312 rather than Strickland.
"I think most people wanted to see that Khamzat fight, myself included… Everyone now says they wanted the Khamzat fight but the same fans were the ones that called for the Strickland rematch up until Khamzat had the performance against Rob [Whittaker].
"[A fight against Khamzat] was on the table for sure, but you know, we talked about it. It wasn't from my side or from his side where the fight didn't happen, I think there was some issues with the UFC and Khamzat, I'm not sure, and timing, I think timing played a big role, but there were conversations."
How did Khamzat Chimaev actually get the scar on his lip?
It should go without saying, but Chimaev didn't get his prominent scar from a grappling match with a shark – so how did the insanely talented wrestler actually come to bear this mark?
In a prior interview, as shared by SportBible, Chimaev revealed that he got the scar after falling down a staircase at just two years old.
"My mom told me this, but I don’t remember myself, I was two years old, and we had a big staircase in our house, and I fell down [them] onto the concrete,” Chimaev explained.
“I had a ripped lip; a couple of my teeth were knocked out and I also broke my nose," he stated before revealing that he “still can’t breathe from my right nostril," all these years later.
Khamzat Chimaev moved up to #3 in the UFC rankings following his demolition of Robert Whittaker in October, with only Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland between him and Du Plessis.
