Dricus Du Plessis’ 45-pound cut puts a future move to 205 in betting focus

Dricus Du Plessis has supplied a useful piece of handicapping information before supplying an actual fight. MMA Mania reported that the former middleweight champion says he cuts roughly 45 pounds from his out-of-camp weight, intends to regain the 185-pound title and eventually pursue a second belt at light heavyweight.

The disclosure does not create a bet by itself. Du Plessis has no linked booking, there is no available market, and MMA Mania reported no defined timetable for his planned move to 205 pounds. It does, however, clarify the tradeoff bettors will need to price if that move becomes real: less weight-cut stress against larger opponents, with no evidence yet showing how his established middleweight game translates.

Du Plessis, 32, remains the No. 2-ranked middleweight and is 24-3 overall. He returned from his loss to Khamzat Chimaev with a five-round unanimous decision over Kamaru Usman on July 18. That result restored him to the win column, but his broader data matters more than a simple bounce-back narrative.

The cut has not stopped Du Plessis from working deep into fights

A severe cut often prompts bettors to look automatically toward late-round fatigue, but Du Plessis’ archived results do not support treating that as a standalone angle.

He has completed the fifth round in four of his last five fights. Those bouts produced three decision wins, one decision loss and a fourth-round submission victory. Across 11 archived contests, he has gone 10-1 and has never been finished. His 10 wins divide into four knockouts or technical knockouts, two submissions and four decisions, giving him a 60 percent finish rate on wins within that 11-fight sample.