UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis has examined the state of the division as he prepares to defend his title once again this weekend.

On Saturday night, Dricus du Plessis will defend the UFC middleweight championship against Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of UFC 319. As you can imagine, there’s a great deal of excitement in the air regarding this contest. Both men are known for being absolute warriors, but with very different styles in the cage.

Dricus du Plessis is one of the most unpredictable fighters in all of mixed martial arts today and that much goes without saying. Khamzat Chimaev, meanwhile, is an absolute monster who has been able to tear through the majority of fighters that he’s faced inside the cage.

In terms of the middleweight division as a whole, it’s looking stronger than it has done in a long time. Dricus du Plessis is a big part of that but alongside him, there are so many exciting fighters just waiting to break into the title picture. In a recent interview, the champion spoke about what’s going on at 185 pounds.

Dricus du Plessis discusses middleweight division

“What a time to be the middleweight champion of the world. It’s an exciting division and I love it because there’s a lot of eyes in the division, a lot of movement. Right now, there’s four guys—immediate guys that I can think of that are right there. Any one of them can be that guy, but I think between them they are going to sort it out pretty quickly and that’s exciting.”

DDP is going to be right in the pound-for-pound conversation if he keeps going at this rate and that much is a fact – but getting through Khamzat is going to be easier said than done.