Dricus du Plessis wins UFC middleweight crown with a little help from his Lowveld friend
Hennie Engelbrecht called Mbombela his home for 28 years before relocating to Tshwane to become a member of Stillknocks' camp.
MBOMBELA – When Dricus ‘Stillknocks’ du Plessis fought the American Sean Strickland for the UFC Middleweight Championship belt, there was a bit of Nellie guts in his corner.
The UFC 297 title fight took place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada, on Sunday morning January 21, South African time.
Du Plessis won the fight to achieve a goal that was earned through years of blood, sweat and tears.
A former Lowvelder, Hennie Engelbrecht (33), has been is a key member of the Stillknocks camp for most of this journey. He is a member of Du Plessis’s coaching team based at the CIT Performance Institute in Thswane.
He attended Laerskool Nelspruit. He then attended Hoërskool Nelspruit (NHS), from which he matriculated in 2008.
Engelbecht told Lowvelder on Wednesday that the values that were instilled in him at NHS have been invaluable to him as a member of Du Plessis’s team. “Hoërskool Nelspruit is a remarkable school. They teach you more than just your subjects. What I learnt at NHS has been invaluable to me. This includes working hard and striving for excellence, no matter the circumstances. Being based in South Africa while wanting to produce a UFC world champ was not ideal circumstances for us. Team Stillknocks strived towards a goal. We worked hard, despite our circumstances, and now look at the result,” said Engelbrecht.
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“I started working with Dricus five years ago. I was first his mental coach, and later moved over to assistant trainer under the head coach, Morné Visser.”
Engelbrecht studied theology at the University of Pretoria. He is an ordained Hervormde minister and served the Hervormde Kerk in Mbombela for a short time. He then moved on to his alma mater, NHS, where he was a sports phycologist for three years.
He joined the CIT Performance Institute in 2018 where he learnt the ropes of coaching mixed martial arts (MMA) and training fighters.
“I was a member of Dricus’s camp from when I joined CIT and gained my skills and knowledge of MMA over time.”
Engelbrecht said it was the experience of a lifetime to be part of the Stillknocks team for the UFC middleweight title fight against Strickland. “We are a professional team, and we just stuck to what we know when we arrived at the arena. We did feel pressure that was not present in previous fights. After all, Dricus was the first South African to fight for a UFC title. But we stuck to our schedule and the champ-to-be was raring to go,” said Engelbrecht.
He played a vital role in Du Plessis’s corner, reading the fight to assist Visser in the advice given to their fighter in the breaks between rounds. “I kept time of the break to make sure that Dricus cooled down as much as possible, and also that the coach can give him the necessary instructions. Its only a one-minute break, so every second must be utilised,” he said.
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When the title fight went to rounds four and five, the championship rounds, Engelbrecht new their plan was working. “We always knew he could go five rounds. The work Dricus put in in the gym had prepared him. The rest of the world was questioning if he had the ability to handle the championship rounds. But we were not concerned – he had what it takes. The plan for the fight not to go the distance continued, and Dricus continued attacking,” he said.
There was huge celebrations in the Du Plessis camp when the winner was announced. “It was a combination of relief and joy. Years of work and sacrifice had gone into preparing for a 30-minute title fight. At that moment, all that mattered was that Dricus was the champ and we were very emotional.”
Engelbrecht has walked a long road with Du Plessis. “Stillknocks expects the best from everyone in his team. The head coach had a plan for Dricus to become world champion, and everyone involved bought into that plan. It was a matter of pursuit of perfection, and the whole team was expected to be the best version they can be of themselves, with Dricus setting the example. We are also very close-knit; we care about one another like family,” said Engelbrecht.
He said that the pre-fight banter between the two fighters is part and parcel of the sport. “Dricus is the same person on and off camera. He is very serious about being true to himself. He does not put up a front at media conferences. He is really like that. The banter initially came from Sean, and Dricus retaliated. This upset the American. Nothing can be said by anyone that will put Stillknocks off his fight plan. But you could see when they did their face-off in the octagon, nothing that was said before mattered; only the fight mattered.”
Engelbrecht will continue be part of the champs’ camp and also train other fighters at the CIT Institute, and the plan is that Stillknocks might be the first, but will not be the last, world champion they produce.
