Former UFC champion warns Poatan about the dangers of returning to middleweight and facing Du Plessis

Alex Poatán x Dricus du Plessis could happen in the UFC. Photo: Montage/SUPER-FIGHTS

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After defending the light heavyweight belt (up to 93 kg) for the third time with a knockout over Khalil rountree in the main fight of UFC 307, last Saturday (6), Alex Poatán reinforced his preference for moving up to heavyweight (up to 120,2 kg) and ruled out, for now, a return to middleweight (up to 83,9 kg), leaving the way open for his friend Sean Strickland. In Sean O'Malley's opinion, the decision was correct.

In a video published on his official YouTube channel, the former bantamweight champion (up to 61,2 kg) warned Poatan about the danger of a possible fight against Dricus Du Plessis at medium weight.

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"Dricus Du Plessis “It’s a serious problem. I feel like if he can grab and take him down, it could be a dirty fight. It’s an interesting fight and it’s not a guarantee that he’ll knock him out because DDP is a dog,” O’Malley said.

At heavyweight, O'Malley believes Poatan could have more success as long as he avoids matches against top-tier wrestlers.

“I think he could 100% move up to heavyweight. He’s a big guy and with the skill set he has, if he goes up against a really good wrestler it’s a little bit different, but if he goes up against an MMA guy, he has a good chance of knocking out those motherf***ing heavyweights for sure,” he concluded.