The Dricus Du Plessis Era Kicks Into Another Gear

After defeating the outspoken American by split decision to become the first-ever South African UFC champion in Vancouver, Canada last January, Du Plessis declared he’d leave no doubt over who’s the better man in the rematch and made good on that promise in vicious fashion.

“Stillknocks”, who in his first act as 185-pound king became the first man to submit former two-time champion Israel Adesanya in Perth this past August, showed just how much he’s improved since his maiden meeting with Strickland by dominating the sequel from start to finish.

In the best shape of his life, Du Plessis outworked “Tarzan” – who’s known for the high pace he pushes – from the opening bell, shattered his nose in the fourth round and pulled further away down the stretch to put the rivalry to bed.

What Du Plessis delivered was a demonstration of awkward excellence. Strickland is one of the hardest fighters to hit in mixed martial arts because of his Philly Shell stance. Thus, the damage Du Plessis inflicted on him was nothing short of impressive.

The 31-year-old did so by learning from the lessons of the first fight, evolving his overall skillset and tweaking his game plan. In the first fight, he head-hunted too much and secured a handful of takedowns. On Sunday, he adopted a versatile, kick-heavy style and didn’t force takedowns, which worked wonders.  

He did a fantastic job of mixing up his strikes to the body, legs and head, attacked from a lot of different angles and had a lot of success with his left kicks in particular. To keep Strickland guessing even more, he landed a spinning back fist and a spinning elbow in the third round and finished off the round with the only takedown of the fight.

Round four was where the body and leg work paid off as it left Strickland open up top, and Du Plessis pounced with a beautiful right hand that broke the 33-year-old’s nose. Love him or loathe him, Strickland deserves credit for the toughness he showed not to wilt and to reset his nose, only for Du Plessis to break it again.

Calmer, more calculated and more accurate than he was in the first fight, Du Plessis landed a whopping 52 leg kicks, doubling his previous best, 45 body shots and 50 blows to the head in what was a near shutout with the baddest man in Mzanzi winning 50-45, 50-45 and 50-46 on the judges’ scorecards.

Unorthodox he may be, but there’s no denying he’s the best middleweight in the world, and he’s only getting better. Sunday’s triumph was his ninth straight in the UFC, which is the joint-third-longest win streak in middleweight history along with Chris Weidman behind only Anderson Silva (13) and Adesanya (12).

Du Plessis, who’s won 11 in a row overall and improved to 23-2, said at the post-fight press conference he was pleased that he was able to show progression and prove a point.

 “To go out there and beat him at his own game was a big, big priority because to go out there and fight the same fight as in Toronto, I could have done the exact same thing, but I didn’t,” he said. “I told you guys the whole week, I’m going to try to knock him out or submit him or if this goes to a decision, complete domination and that’s what happened.

“I thought he was going to initiate the wrestling early. He tried at some stage but it was too late. I mean, I felt great out there tonight, to show progression, that was the biggest thing. To show that I can submit the best in the world, a guy that’s never been submitted.

“I can go out there and knock people out and I can go out there and out-point a guy that out-points anybody and do it over five rounds. That was a big win for me tonight and it was a big performance, to stay calm, when I got his nose, I didn’t stay that calm but that was me smelling blood. I got back to where I needed to be and it was an incredible performance, it felt great.”

As for what’s next, Du Plessis sent a message to light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira in his Octagon interview but clarified that while he’d like a future date with “Poatan” at 205 pounds, he knows the Brazilian has a title fight against Magomed Ankalaev next month and stressed that undefeated Khamzat Chimaev is the man he wants to defend his title against first.

“Khamzat’s first. I wished him , I said, ‘Please beat Ankalaev.’ No hate against Ankalaev, I just want to beat Alex Pereira. Pereira is such a legend in the sport to me already that it would be amazing to beat him for my legacy. I want to be the greatest to ever do this but Khamzat’s next. Khamzat is next.

“I want to make sure that this belt, the middleweight title, that there’s no question that I’m the GOAT of the middleweight division. And I know that, you know, you have Anderson Silva who, in my mind, is the GOAT of this division, and you have Adesanya who has done incredible things.

“But it’s not just about how many times you defend . It’s about who you fight, how you defend it and how you’ve done it; in what period of time have you done it and who have you fought and making sure that there’s no question that I am the best middleweight, then going up. So, I’m not rushing that my next fight is Alex Pereira, no, no, no. I want Khamzat next. I think he deserves a hiding.”

Asked how he’d approach a fight against Chimaev, Du Plessis said, “I’ll just I’ll outwrestle him. Yeah, that’s the game plan…sounds good.”