Du Plessis turned down UFC light heavyweight tournament, his coach says

Dricus du Plessis turned down a UFC offer to enter a four-man light heavyweight tournament, his coach Morne Visser says. Visser said on the Fight Forecast podcast that the UFC approached him about three weeks earlier. MiddleEasy reported his comments on Tuesday, October 20. The UFC has not commented, and Du Plessis has not spoken about it himself.

According to Visser, the pool would have been Du Plessis, Jiri Prochazka, Magomed Ankalaev and Navajo Stirling. The four would fight "in one night", the two winners would meet, and that winner would face champion Carlos Ulberg. Visser called it "a bit of a Grand Prix", as quoted by Sherdog. MiddleEasy notes that Visser didn't clearly name the fourth man; outlets identified him as Stirling, the unbeaten New Zealander.

Visser said he declined because the move up has to be gradual. "It took me a year to get Dricus from welterweight to middleweight," he said. The move to 205 is still coming, just not yet. "We will go up to 205, that is 100% the plan, but we want our middleweight belt back," he said, according to MMAInsight.

Heavy says its own sources confirmed the UFC asked Du Plessis about fighting Ankalaev at 205, and that he said no. That fits what Ankalaev told Bostanov MMA on Monday, October 19, when he said a fight with Du Plessis had been discussed. Visser's answer rules that fight out for now.

The light heavyweight picture

Ulberg won the vacant title by knocking out Prochazka in the first round at UFC 327 on April 11. He tore his ACL in that fight and had surgery five days later, LowKickMMA reported. He is aiming for early 2027 and has argued against an interim title.

Two of the four are now matched on their own. Prochazka and Stirling headline UFC Qatar in Doha on November 21, a card Cageside Press published in full on September 29. No sportsbook has posted odds for that fight yet, so our fight page has no price to show.

Stirling is 11-0 and knocked out Jan Blachowicz in the first round on August 1. He closed at -370 that night and is 6-0 as a bet in the UFC.

That leaves Ankalaev, the No. 1 contender, without a fight. The former champion stopped Bogdan Guskov in the fifth round on July 25, closing at -556.

If the whole bracket had run in one night, it would have been the UFC's first one-night tournament since UFC 23 in Tokyo in 1999. Visser's wording leaves open whether the final would have been the same night.

We think Visser made the sound call. Du Plessis would have been stepping up against bigger men, possibly twice in one night, after his whole UFC career at 185. At middleweight he is ranked No. 2 and has beaten the current champion twice.

What's next for Du Plessis

Visser told Fight Forecast the target is a return at 185 in late February or March 2027, according to MiddleEasy. No opponent is set. He said the team has said yes to Brendan Allen more than once, but the UFC is waiting on Anthony Hernandez's November fight. Visser prefers Nassourdine Imavov and would also take a third fight with Sean Strickland.

Strickland took the belt from Khamzat Chimaev by split decision at UFC 328 in May. Heavy reported in July that he was nursing a shoulder injury and that his first defence was expected in late 2026 or 2027.

Du Plessis last fought on July 18, beating Kamaru Usman by unanimous decision as a -217 favourite. He is 10-1 in the UFC. In the 10 of those fights with tracked odds, backing him at the closing price would have returned +6.83 units. He is 7-0 as the favourite and 2-1 as the underdog.