There’s nothing conventional about Dricus du Plessis being the UFC Middleweight Champion, and that’s exactly what makes his title reign so interesting. Let’s be honest, his fighting style doesn’t always look the cleanest or prettiest. There have been fights, where he looks exhausted two minutes into the first round, throwing wide, looping punches that would make a boxing coach cry. But then, something incredible happens. His opponent, more often than not, seems to be worn down by the relentless, grinding pressure Du Plessis applies.
He’s a champion who wins not with slick & clean technique, but with an iron will and a gas tank that seems everlasting. “Stillknocks” has broken some of the most technical fighters in the 185 lbs division, including former champions like Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya, simply by refusing to take a single step backwards. He has proven that heart and pressure can be the most effective tools in a fighter’s arsenal.
Du Plessis’s approach is mostly a calculated kind of chaos. He fights tall for a middleweight, using an unorthodox stance and constant level changes to disguise his entries. His striking, for lack of a better word, seems ‘weird’, looping hooks, stabbing front kicks, and explosions, but it’s backed by a strong chin and great cardio that lets him maintain pressure deep into the championship rounds. On the mat, he mixes heavy top control with threatening submission attempts. It’s a style that looks wild at first glance, but every awkward angle is designed to break an opponent’s comfort zone, which up until now has worked well for him.
Dricus DuPlessis’s toughest challenge to date
Assessing both fighters, it would be fair to say that this entire championship fight heavily relies on the first ten minutes. For the challenger, Khamzat Chimaev, the plan would be simple: to be the storm that he has been his whole career. ‘Borz’ will be expected to explode from his corner, looking for the takedown to unleash that unrelentless top pressure he is famous for. Aiming to overwhelm Dricus before the champion can ever find his rhythm.
But if du Plessis is still standing after that initial blitz, the fight enters his world. His path to victory is to make it ugly, to press forward and turn the fight into an ugly war. He must survive and drag Chimaev into the deep end of the championship rounds to ask the all-important question: what happens to the ‘wolf’ when his cardio finally betrays him? If it does.
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