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DRICUS DU PLESSIS | THE BIGGEST DOG IN THE YARD
Middleweight Champion Talks Goals, Second Fights, And Strategies Ahead Of UFC 312
Last year, Dricus Du Plessis achieved what many would consider the ultimate goal, claiming UFC gold by coming out on the happy side of a split decision verdict in a hotly contested clash with Sean Strickland towards the end of January in frigid Toronto.
A little over a year later and just days away from sharing the Octagon with Strickland for a second time, the 31-year-old middleweight champion explained that while winning the title was certainly a goal, it has never been the goal that truly drives him.
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“I think that is the purpose — that’s my purpose on this Earth — is to achieve that; that is my lifelong dream,” Du Plessis said when asked about his ultimate goal of finishing his career as the greatest fighter to ever walk the planet, a sentiment he’s shared many times and reiterated earlier in the week with McKenzie Pavacich. “My lifelong goal is that, even though you achieve or don’t achieve that goal before the age of 40.
“For me, that has been absolutely everything because every time I think of giving up, that is the goal I think of. When I’m nine sessions, 10 sessions into the week, and I’m thinking, ‘I can’t do this right now, I need to rest’ — when you’re in a place where you’re asking yourself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ that is where that ultimate goal comes in. You go, ‘If you can’t do this, you can’t even consider (this bigger thing).’
“You saying in the last year, achieving such a big goal as being UFC champion — there was a stage in my life where making my pro debut meant the exact same thing to me; winning that debut meant the exact same thing to me as winning that UFC title,” continued the middleweight titleholder, who cemented his place atop the division with a fourth-round submission win over two-time champ Israel Adensanya last summer in Perth. “Four years ago, signing with the UFC, getting my shot, and fighting in the UFC was the exact same accomplishment in terms of value, for me, as it was to become the world champion.
"That is the beauty of setting your goals: there is the next step, then there is the next step, then there is the next step. You have to have the small goals, you have to have the medium ones, and those big, big, long-term ones to keep you going, and that’s what has been amazing for me.
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“I have goals in my life — I have daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, yearly goals, and I have the ultimate goals, and it’s an amazing chase.”
Saturday night in Sydney, that chase leads Du Plessis into a familiar, yet different, situation: a second title fight with Strickland, where, this time, the roles are reversed.
Dricus Du Plessis Fight Week Interview | UFC 312
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Dricus Du Plessis Fight Week Interview | UFC 312
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After entering as the challenger at the start of last year, the South African will be the one striding into the Octagon last this weekend, seeking to become only the second of the last seven men to hold the middleweight strap to post more than one successful title defense when he stands opposite his American adversary at Qudos Bank Arena.
While most everyone talking about this contest frames it as a rematch, which it is, the goal-oriented champion has a very different way of looking at things.
“The key for me is that it’s not a rematch; it’s a match,” said Du Plessis, who has been in this position twice before, having earned twin victories over Bruno Mukulu under the EFC banner before splitting a pair of bouts with Roberto Soldic in KSW. “I’m not looking at it as a rematch. I’m looking at it where I’ve beaten Sean Strickland and now I have to beat Sean Strickland again. Even more so, I’ve beaten this guy and now I’m beating another guy.
“We are not the same fighters we were a year ago,” continued the Team CIT representative. “The Dricus that stepped in there a year ago is not the same guy that is stepping in there now, the same with him, and that’s why I don’t see it as a rematch — I see it as a fight.
“If this was somebody else stepping in there, I would approach it exactly the same because I don’t see it as a rematch: I see it as I need to beat whoever steps into that Octagon on Saturday night, and that is the only thing I see.”
Though he doesn’t look at Saturday’s meeting with Strickland as a sequel to their back-and-forth battle at Scotiabank Arena in January, the recently engaged champion does acknowledge that having already spent 25 minutes inside the Octagon with the former champion-turned-challenger does bring a certain level of comfort as he readies to stand opposite him once again.
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“The unknown entity is what is — I don’t wanna say scary, but that unknown is what makes you hesitant,” began Du Plessis, explaining what goes through his head when preparing to face an unfamiliar opponent. “You don’t know, ‘What if this guy has crazy stupid power? How fast is this guy? How strong is this guy? How hard does he hit? Where do the punches come from?’ And at the highest level, that takes some time to figure out, and is definitely of value, having faced him.
“After a year, you’re not gonna be that much stronger, you’re not gonna be that much faster. You can be cleaner, for sure, and crisper, 100-percent, and that’s gonna add to your striking, but the physical attributes that I think about most are not how fit is this guy, how snappy is this guy — it’s ‘if this guy touches me with a big punch, what’s gonna happen?’
Full Fight | Dricus Du Plessis vs Israel Adesanya
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Full Fight | Dricus Du Plessis vs Israel Adesanya
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“That I know, so there is definitely great value in having that experience,” he added with a grin. “It’s almost like being able to have a quick read through a test before you take the test.”
He passed the initial exam last year, edging out the defensively minded American in a bout decided by the narrowest of margins. In some ways, it felt like the quintessential Sean Strickland fight — close, competitive, decided on the scorecards, with no one feeling fully confident in saying who won the contest when the final horn sounded.
But in suggesting that to Du Plessis, the champion was quick to push back.
UFC 312 COUNTDOWN: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2 | Zhang vs Suarez | Full Episode
“I am going to correct you on that,” he began. “When you said, ‘another Sean Strickland fight,’ no. A Sean Strickland fight is boring. A Sean Strickland fight is jabs and teeps, on the front foot, like we saw against Paulo Costa, with a 30-second blitz of everything in last 30 seconds of the fight; that is what a Sean Strickland fight looks like. On stats, it most likely ends up in a split decision victory for him.
Dricus Du Pless Talks With Heidi Androl | UFC 312
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Dricus Du Pless Talks With Heidi Androl | UFC 312
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“When we fought, I was moving forward 23 minutes out of a 25-minute fight. I was advancing, throwing — landing less, but throwing more, for sure. Power punches? 100-percent, trying to catch him, trying to get him out of there, trying to finish the fight from the get-go; getting takedowns, getting back up, and pushing that pace.
“I was the one dictating that pace. I was the one going forward and advancing, and this time around, it will be the same.”
Though he promises to stick to the approach that has carried him to an 8-0 mark in the UFC and the top of the 185-pound weight class in a little more than five years, “Stillknocks” is certain that the challenger is going to change things up dramatically this time around.
And if that’s how things play out, he sees a very different outcome than their first encounter.
“He’s gonna change it up because they know I have the answer for (what he typically does,” Du Plessis stated, projecting how he believes things will play out in Saturday night’s main event. “He’s gonna lose a decision again if he tries to be that defensive and just move backwards, because that is how fighting works.
“This time ‘round, he’s forced to come forward and fight me, and I know that he can. He’s a guy that can take a punch, but it’s much better taking a punch hiding, shelling up, and riding than coming forward and eating a punch while you’re throwing a punch, especially one of mine.
“That’s where it’s gonna be different. He’s gonna initiate the wrestling, and I think he’s gonna look at those avenues and change it up to try to throw me off, because he has to do that now that he knows that in terms of the scoring system, he won’t beat me the way that he tried to the first time.
“And then he’s playing into my game, where it’s everything at play,” he said with a smile. “It’s MMA, not conservative boxing and teeping; it’s MMA and that’s where it plays into my game. If he tries that, he’s fighting my fight.”
While he’s quick to acknowledge the elite skill and world-class pedigree of his rival, Du Plessis believes that if Strickland takes the approach that it has been suggested he takes and look to make this even more grimy, it’s going to be a quick night at the office.
Dricus Du Plessis Never Lost Focus
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Dricus Du Plessis Never Lost Focus
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If it’s a dog fight Strickland is after, he better be careful, because he might be stepping in with a bigger, stronger, more dangerous dog.
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“For him to win this fight in their mind, what they are planning — ‘If you wanna have a shot, we have to make this a dog fight,’” began Du Plessis, grinning as he recounted the consensus idea of what the challenger needs to do in order to reclaim the middleweight throne. “There is not a man that loves the dogged place of uncomfortability like I do. I thrive there, I live there, I train there. It’s my house, that’s where I do my best work is when we get into the trenches.
“If they make this a dog fight, I am going to beat (him) before the end of the second, because I am the biggest dog in the UFC.”
UFC 312: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2 took place live from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, Australia on February 8, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!