Dricus Du Plessis opens up on huge UFC 319 weight cut as he’s still far from target

While Dricus Du Plessis isn’t the biggest middleweight on the roster, he’s never been shy about discussing the challenges of making the 185lb limit. He’s even considered a move to light-heavyweight in the past and recently spoke about how this camp has gone as he prepares for UFC 319.

“I’m still quite a fair bit away from 185lb,” Du Plessis admitted in an interview with the Chicago Sports Network. “But I do walk around at around 225lb to 230lb. That’s my walk-around weight out of camp, of course.

“Then in camp we start to trim down and right now my weight is on track, it’s perfectly where I need it to be at this stage of the fight. We are ten days from weigh-ins right now and this is where the hard part starts. I’m getting my body ready to cut that water and put it back on safely.”

Dricus Du Plessis open to light-heavyweight move

Following his comments on the weight cut, Du Plessis was asked directly about a potential move to 205lb. He seemed interested in the possibility, pointing out that the winner of Alex Pereira vs Magomed Ankalaev’s rematch is one of the more intriguing matchups available.

“That’s been the goal, the long-term goal to move up,” Du Plessis said of a move to light-heavyweight. “I’m still young in my career, 31 years old means there is a lot of time left and I’m a firm believer that you need at least three title defences, this will be my third, before you move up.

“Then of course, the division needs to be cleaned out before you move out to the next one. The middleweight division is looking very exciting at the moment, just look at the shuffle in the top five. It’s been the same for many years.

“Then look at the last year, there’s so many changes. Robert Whittaker is out of the top five for the first time in eight years. I’ve fought everybody in the top five until last week, now there’s two new names in there.

“This means the division is getting lively. Otherwise it wouldn’t have made sense for me to stay. But there’s exciting fights now and I’m always in for new hungry contenders. So let’s see how it happens but I’m definitely interested at some point in near future to move up in weight.”