Dricus du Plessis: SA’s Best Bet For UFC Gold

Dricus du Plessis reaffirmed his status as South Africa’s greatest-ever UFC championship hopeful with a stunning showcase of beautiful brutality on the grand stage of UFC 264 at the weekend, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.

South Africa’s UFC History

In the 28-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), precious few South African pugilists have punched their ticket to the world’s pre-eminent mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion. It’s an arduous journey to say the field, one that requires greater sacrifices and takes a graver toll than any other sporting endeavour.

There’s the “OG” Trevor Prangley, a true trailblazer whose dominant wrestling paved his way to the world-famous Octagon in the early 2000s. A national champion, he had designs on gold of a different kind as he sought to make the South African Olympic team but lost his qualifying match in overtime. As so many standout wrestlers have done since, Prangley transitioned to MMA and had immediate success, winning eight of his first nine fights – including submitting future UFC superstar Chael Sonnen – to earn his shot in the UFC.

On June 19, 2004, he stepped inside the ultimate proving ground in combat sports at UFC 48 in Las Vegas, where he submitted Curtis Stout in the second round. Prangley, who won titles at middleweight and light heavyweight in other top overseas organisations and even fought at heavyweight over the course of his career, competed three more times in the UFC before being cut with a 2-2 record in the promotion.

Neil Grove is another early example of a South African who made it onto the big stage. A mountain of a man at 1.98m and the heavyweight limit of 120kg, he was a Goju-ryu specialist when he made his only Octagon appearance at UFC 95 in London in February 2009, where he’d relocated to 13 years earlier, and lost to Mike Ciesnolevicz via submission.

EFC Is Born

The sport continued to skyrocket and that same year, South Africa’s first MMA promotion – the Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) – was born. The EFC has since become the African leader in MMA and a springboard to the big time, although, only a select group of its elite athletes have graduated to the UFC. The most notable South African-born EFC products to achieve this are former champions Ruan Potts, Gareth McLellan, Don Madge, JP Buys and the man of the hour, Du Plessis.

The gulf between the two promotions is now slowly narrowing, but the seismic difference in class that existed at the time became painfully clear when Potts made his UFC bow in May 2014. A black belt in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he’d held the EFC heavyweight title twice and had amassed an 8-1 record when he touched down in America.

Despite probably being a bit undersized at 1.88m and 114kg, Potts still had plenty of upside but was knocked out by Soa Palelei just two minutes and 20 seconds into his promotional debut. Unfortunately, “Fangzz” was flushed out in less than a year, going 0-3 including becoming an early KO victim of one Derrick Lewis, now universally known as “The Black Beast”, who’s set for an interim heavyweight title showdown with Ciryl Gane next month.

McLellan, a two-time EFC middleweight champion, carried even more hype and expectation on his shoulders when he made the leap in 2015. Charismatic with a mean streak a mile long, “Soldierboy” was South Africa’s first mainstream MMA star and the holder of black belts in karate and Brazilian jiu-jitsu with good wrestling to go with it.

With a record of 12-2, the well-rounded McLellan had looked capable of making noise in the UFC but didn’t fare much better than “Fangzz”, falling short against Bartosz Fabinski on points on debut and winning just one of his five fights inside the Octagon. A debuting Paulo Costa ended the bearded bruiser’s stint in the UFC by TKO in March 2017, sending “Soldierboy” back to South Africa and starting his own road to an eventual title fight with reigning king Israel Adesanya last September.

Six months after McLellan’s departure, Buys had an opportunity to earn a UFC contract via Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) but succumbed to Joby Sanchez via TKO. Rebounding from his second career loss, he added the EFC bantamweight belt to the featherweight title he’d won earlier in his career and made his second shot on DWCS count when he submitted Jacob Silva last November.

A top-class wrestler with killer instinct, he and his wife Cheyanne made their UFC debuts on the same card in March of this year, with the couple both coming out on the wrong side of the ledger, “Young Savage” stopped by Bruno Silva in the second round of their flyweight fight and “The Warrior Princess” dropping a decision to Montserrat Ruiz in their strawweight scrap. Both are awaiting word on their next bouts.

Then there’s Madge, a former two-time EFC lightweight champion. Nicknamed “Magic Man”, he’s the most sophisticated striker from our shores to step inside the Octagon and an ultra-talented tide-turner as he refused to succumb to the same fate as his countrymen who came before him.

Instead, he kicked the door down and Te Edwards’ head off in his UFC debut in October 2018 and outpointed Fares Ziam the following year to take make it a perfect two-from-two in the promotion and improve his overall record to 9-3-1. He’s the next-best prospect when it comes to bringing UFC gold back to South Africa and having had several fights since his 2019 triumph scrapped due to ill-timed injuries to opponents or visa issues, including a bout with Guram Kutateladze that was meant to take place this weekend, he’s champing at the bit to continue his mission.

The Chosen One – Du Plessis

With respect to all of these members of South African MMA royalty, Du Plessis trumps them all in God-given talent and all-important mental toughness. As I mentioned in my UFC 264 predictions piece last week, the 27-year-old is the most gifted and well-rounded MMA fighter South Africa’s produced to date.

He’s a standout athlete rooted in wrestling and judo, which he started at the age of five before adding striking to his arsenal and becoming South Africa’s first-ever WAKO K-1 kickboxing world champion in 2012. From the moment he burst onto the professional MMA scene and made quick work of Tshikangu Makuebo at EFC 21 in July 2013, there was something special about Du Plessis.

Physically, he’s a shredded 1.85m, 84kg vessel of violence – a natural-born killer when it comes to fighting as he underscored yet again in spectacular fashion at the weekend. Making the most of a prelim spot on UFC 264, the biggest card of the year headlined by the trilogy fight between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor in Las Vegas, the hard-hitting Hatfield-born fighter slept Trevin Giles with a sledgehammer-like straight right to maintain his remarkable 100% finishing rate.

The devastating second-round knockout of the double-tough home favourite, who’d entered the bout on a three-fight win streak and 5-2 record in the UFC, was his seventh KO, to go along with nine submission wins, earned him a Performance of the Night bonus of just over R1 million, extended his current win streak to four and improved his overall record to 16-2.

Seven years into his MMA career, “Stillknocks” still hasn’t gone to a judges’ decision in a single fight. That’s unheard of, especially for a fighter who’s won three major titles around the world – the EFC welterweight and middleweight belts as well as Poland-based promotion KSW’s welterweight championship.

That wicked record strongly suggests he’s a kill-or-be-killed type of fighter but, in actuality, he’s something far more dangerous, a cerebral predator who picks his spots and pounces when opportunities arise. Everything he does is excellently executed and tactically sound and Team CIT’s crown jewel somehow continues to become increasingly more dangerous by the day.

Lost to most among his highlight-reel knockouts, submissions and slams is the uncanny composure where his world-class skills and inner savage erupt from like a volcano. It was evident in the proud Christian’s EFC debut eight years ago and propelled him to his KSW title-clinching KO of Roberto Soldic in October 2018.

It was notable in his dream UFC debut last October on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, where he was unburdened by the infamous Octagon jitters that have claimed so many victims in the past and knocked out Markus Perez in the first round, and it shone through in his career-changing stoppage win in the fight capital of the world at the weekend.

It’s that perfect marriage of physical and mental strength that makes Du Plessis South Africa’s greatest UFC hope. Make no mistake, there’s a long road yet. Breaking into the top 15 of the talent-rich middleweight division alone will take some doing, but at 27, Mzanzi’s baddest patriot has time and all the tools to make a serious run at the title.

Quintin van Jaarsveld

Quintin Van Jaarsveld is a former MDDA-Sanlam SA Local Sports Journalist of the Year and a former three-time Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Sports Journalist of the Year. Formerly the sports editor and Outstanding Journalist of the Year award winner at The Fever Media Group, deputy editor at eHowzit, editor at SARugby.com and senior staff writer at Rugby365.com, he boasts over 15 years’ experience and is currently a freelance sports writer.