Du Plessis Said No to the UFC's Four-Man Light Heavyweight Tournament

The UFC came to Dricus du Plessis with one of its boldest matchmaking gambles in years — and got a firm "no." Speaking to Fight Forecast, the former middleweight champion's head coach Morne Visser revealed that the promotion pitched "Stillknocks" a place in a four-man light heavyweight tournament, with the winner earning a shot at the 205-pound crown. Du Plessis, however, has his eyes fixed on a different prize: getting his middleweight belt back first.

"They asked me three weeks ago; the UFC asked me for Dricus to move up to 205, they wanted us to join a pool of four fighters, Jiri [Prochazka], Dricus, [Magomed] Ankalaev and [Navajo] Stirling," Visser said. "They wanted the four guys to go into a pool and fight in one night and then the winner of that fight each other and then the winner of that fight Carlos Ulberg, a bit of a Grand Prix."

A one-night Grand Prix for 205 pounds

The tournament concept was a rare high-concept swing from the UFC in the modern era. The four-man pool would have thrown together two of the sport's biggest names in Prochazka and Ankalaev alongside du Plessis and the fast-rising Stirling, with the survivors emerging to challenge reigning light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg — who is currently sidelined through injury — for the division's top prize.

For du Plessis, the offer represented the ultimate fast track: a path from 185-pound contender to a shot at a second division's title without a single light heavyweight fight on his résumé. It would also have made for compelling television, pitting the South African against a former champion in Prochazka, the division's top contender in Ankalaev, and one of its brightest prospects in Stirling.

But Visser wasn't buying the shortcut.

Why Team CIT said no

The Team CIT head coach explained that the camp's ambitions at 205 pounds are genuine — just not immediate. "But I said no because it's very easy to go up to 205 pounds, but it took me a year to get Dricus from welterweight to middleweight… That we will do it gradually because we will go up to 205, that is 100% the plan, but we want our middleweight belt back and we want to defend it once."

"We want our belt back and to defend it once," Visser added. "I made that clear to UFC."

The logic is rooted in how the team built du Plessis. The South African began his career as a welterweight, captured titles at 170 and 185 pounds in the Extreme Fighting Championship, and even held the KSW welterweight crown before the UFC came calling. Visser oversaw the painstaking year-long process of growing him into a full middleweight — the body that produced the first South African champion in UFC history. Rushing the process again, he suggested, would risk everything they built.

Stillknocks' unfinished business at 185

Du Plessis, currently the UFC's No. 2-ranked middleweight, has unfinished business in his own division. He lost the 185-pound title to Khamzat Chimaev in August 2025 but rebounded emphatically, outpointing former welterweight king Kamaru Usman over five rounds in Oklahoma City in July.

The path back to the belt, however, is crowded. Sean Strickland now holds the middleweight title — a man du Plessis has beaten twice — with Chimaev ranked first, Nassourdine Imavov third and Brendan Allen fourth. Allen strengthened his own case with a fifth-round submission of Christian Leroy Duncan on October 10 and has openly called for the du Plessis fight himself.

DDP has been equally clear about his priorities. In an appearance on The Sias du Plessis Show uploaded October 18, he laid out his order of business: recover the middleweight championship, then test himself at light heavyweight. He also addressed the practical question of size, estimating the drop from life outside camp at around 45 pounds (roughly 20kg) and insisting he has the frame to compete at 205.

"I want to get my belt back and eventually go up to 205 and go test myself there," du Plessis said. "And I'm certain that I'll be a champion. I'm big enough for that division, and I'm certain I can be champion at that division as well."

The tournament that wasn't — and the eliminator it became

With du Plessis out, the UFC's tournament concept appears dead on arrival in its original form. But the idea has already reshaped the light heavyweight picture: two of the proposed participants, Prochazka and Stirling, are now booked against each other in a five-round main event in Qatar on November 21.

That fight carries even greater significance in the tournament's shadow, effectively serving as a title eliminator while Ankalaev waits in the wings following his July victory over Bogdan Guskov. Ankalaev has no announced bout, though he is targeting a December return.

Ankalaev's open door

The Dagestani contender, for his part, is not short of ideas. Speaking in Russian to BOSTANOV MMA in an interview published October 19, Ankalaev said du Plessis's name had come up as a possible opponent at light heavyweight. "It is possible they will arrange a fight between us," he said, welcoming the possibility.

Whether that bout materializes remains uncertain — there is no agreed date, event or accepted offer publicly on record, and du Plessis's camp has been explicit that middleweight gold comes first. But the pieces are on the board: a rejected Grand Prix, a champion on the shelf, and one of the sport's most ambitious former champions insisting his two-division dream is a matter of "when," not "if."