Through the process of defeating Sean Strickland in January — consequently becoming the UFC middleweight champion — Dricus du Plessis absorbed two key lessons that could serve him well in his first title defense.
- He’s got a big enough gas tank to go five whole rounds against the best (other than himself) in the world.
- Maybe Strickland’s stunning upset of Israel Adesanya last September, the one that made Strickland the champion in the first place, wasn’t just some off-night performance from Adesanya.
The latter in particular could serve du Plessis well when he puts his gold on the line Saturday night (Sunday morning Down Under, care of a 12-hour time difference) in the UFC 305 main event against Adesanya.
“Strickland didn’t beat the Adesanya we know,” du Plessis recalled saying at the time during a recent video call with The Post. “Strickland beat a guy that didn’t look like he trained, didn’t want to be there. He was completely off.”
That was then, before du Plessis (21-2, 19 finishes) spent a full 25 minutes — a career first for him — in the cage with Strickland, getting to know his opponent as only those who’ve gone head-to-head in a cage can understand one another.
The experience brought a new perspective on Strickland vs. Adesanya and how a man du Plessis admits to not giving “a shot” to win pulled it off.
“And then, after fighting Strickland, my whole opinion around him changed because I went back to that fight and I said that,’Wow, actually, Izzy fought the way he always fights: staying on the outside, picking one shot,’ ” du Plessis explains, also making sure to credit Strickland’s unique combination of defensive acumen and posture for the way the fight played out. “… And then I started thinking that Adesanya wasn’t off that night. It was just Strickland who completely shut down Izzy’s game, and he enforced his game.
“That style that Strickland fights was kryptonite for a guy like Adesanya.”
One can’t expect du Plessis to morph his style into that of Strickland in a matter of months, so it’s not that the champ can duplicate that particular formula to neutralize the former longtime lord of the 185-pounders.
But there’s something to be said for not merely writing off a fighter of Adesanya’s caliber before locking horns in the octagon this weekend.
If the UFC had its way, these two would already have faced off in April, when the promotion had sought to make them the headline act of the milestone UFC 300 event.
Adesanya (24-3, 16 finishes) has said he agreed to the date, which du Plessis confirmed was simply too soon after his January win to allow his broken foot to heal.
Du Plessis believes the fracture occurred midway through the second round against Strickland, and said the UFC had seen his medical records and was aware of the situation that prevented him from being at the heart of the spectacle event in Las Vegas.
“Obviously, I would have loved to be part of UFC 300. They offered me some great money to fight on that card,” du Plessis said. “Take money out of the equation; just the magnitude of that event would have been, it would have been one of the most amazing things in the world to be on that card, but it wasn’t possible. And sometimes, things just work out that way. We have no control over that.”
UFC 305 in Australia marks the seventh country du Plessis has competed in MMA.
As much as he says he has been feeling the love from local fans since arriving ahead of fight week, du Plessis hasn’t had a home crowd on his side since before signing with the UFC in 2020.
But there is an opening for du Plessis to help pave the way for an event in his native South Africa.
UFC CEO Dana White told reporters last month the first event on the African continent could wind up in du Plessis’ homeland.
“This fight that is going to happen in Australia here coming up will determine our next trip to Africa,” White said during his post-UFC 304 media availability in London. “I know everybody doesn’t want to count South Africa as Africa, but I do. So, more than likely, our first fight in Africa will be South Africa.”
What White means by the UFC 305 title clash determining the prospective Africa event is not entirely clear, although he noted at the time that he was not up to speed on all the latest progress on bringing an event to the continent.
Regardless, du Plessis said he long has felt pressure to get the UFC to put on an event in South Africa.
“Being the first African-residing champion and then being the first South African champion, that’s always been something that I’ve aspired to do is to bring the UFC to Africa, obviously as a champion and the headliner,” said du Plessis, carefully styling himself as residing and training in Africa as a distinction from African-born former UFC champions such as Francis Ngannou, Kamaru Usman and Adesanya who later moved and primarily trained elsewhere. “And, yeah, this fight’s one step closer. But, I mean, it was in the talks for when the Strickland fight happened as well. So right now, that’s not pressure. That’s just excitement.”