Dricus du Plessis & Khamzat Chimaev’s Backstage Meeting Exposes HUGE Size Difference

Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev’s chance meeting ahead of their UFC 319 headline fight at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, exposed an extraordinary size difference between the middleweight fighters.

The first South African to win a UFC championship, du Plessis has built an impeccable resume since joining the UFC from EFC and KSW as he’s beaten Darren Till, Robert Whittaker, Sean Strickland (twice), and Israel Adesanya. But, on Saturday, the 16th of August, he faces arguably the toughest test of his career as he takes on the intimidating mauler Chimaev.

A dominant beast, Chimaev has also shown an ability to not just win, but dominant, as he won two fights in less than 10 minutes in just a 10-day span when the UFC was on Fight Island during the early stage of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, he’s beaten Gilbert Burns in a war, Kevin Holland, Kamaru Usman, and Whittaker.

As both fighters have a distinctive physical presence, it was intriguing to see just who was the bigger man when they met backstage ahead of their main event bout. And, if fights were won on size alone — there was one clear winner.

Extraordinary Size Difference Between Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev

In the video clip below, which the UFC posted across some of its social media platforms, du Plessis and Chimaev share a friendly albeit competitive embrace before they trade leather atop a UFC pay-per-view show — one of the last on ESPN before the MMA market-leader transitions to CBS and Paramount+ amid a new $7.7 billion broadcast deal that begins January 2026.

In the footage below, it’s evidence that Chimaev looks even bigger than his apparent two-inch height advantage suggests.

The UFC 319 event is an 11-fight card featuring other notable match-ups including Lerone Murphy against Aaron Pico at featherweight, Jared Cannonier vs Michael ‘Venom’ Page at middleweight, and Tim Elliot against Kai Asakura at flyweight. ‘King’ Green, Michal Oleksiejczuk, and Edson Barboza also compete in separate bouts throughout the prelims.

The pay-per-view bout is the UFC’s last in America before it travels to Shanghai for a Fight Night card featuring Zhang Mingyang against Johnny Walker in a lilght heavyweight main event on the 23rd of August. The UFC then travels to Paris for another Fight Night event on the 6th of September, before finally returning to the States for a Noche-branded event in San Antonio, Texas, on the 13th of September.