2024-08-18 13:20:02
Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Dricus Du Plessis was bathing in the villainy.
He strutted around the cage, gestured to a partisan Israel Adesanya crowd like an old-school wrestling heel, and smiled as only an undisputed champion can smile.
It was fitting. Because he’d earned it.
The powerful South African endured three-plus rounds of precise striking from the former two-time middleweight king. But just when it seemed like it was slipping away from him, he responded with a series of hard shots that drove Adesanya to the ground and gave Du Plessis the opening for the rear-naked choke that drew a decisive tap at 3:38 of the fourth.
It was the champion’s first defense of the belt he’d won from Sean Strickland in January, four months after Strickland had dethroned Adesanya.
“He’s got a ton of heart, and he doesn’t give up on himself,” analyst Daniel Cormier said. “He doesn’t veer. He just keeps fighting.”
And if the post-fight chatter is accurate, he might be fighting another champion next.
The broadcast crew of Cormier, Jon Anik and Dominick Cruz discussed ex-middleweight champ Alex Pereira’s apparent desire to return to 185 pounds, which could set up a mega-fight between them at some point in 2025. Pereira has a title defense at 205 pounds on the books later this year but suggests he can still make weight in his previous division.
“I don’t Pereira ever wanted his middleweight story to end the way it did,” Anik said, referencing the KO loss to Adesanya that preceded his jump to 205. “Can you imagine him and Dricus Du Plessis?”
Du Plessis, incidentally, has now beaten former/reigning champions Robert Whittaker, Strickland and Adesanya in succession and is 8-0 in the UFC.
“I just want to hear ‘and still,'” he said. “I don’t care about the opponent.”
