Warrior Dricus’ win lekker – as SA welcomes new champ

Congratulations have poured in from all over for South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis, the new Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion.

Thousands of South Africans woke up in the early hours of Saturday to see Du Plessis take the world title from American Sean Strickland in Toronto, Canada, in a spit decision.

Du Plessis described the fight as one of the happiest, but also the most terrifying moments. “To hear those words (‘…and the new…’) with the flag on my shoulders was incredible,” he said.

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Coming to SA?

President of the UFC Dana White said with Du Plessis as champion, the UFC will look at possibly holding an event in South Africa this year.

Director of SA Rugby Rassie Erasmus, congratulated Du Plessis and described him as an absolute machine and warrior. “You fight a lonely sport without a lot of support, but you did it. Lekker,” he said.

Vitality SA CEO Dinesh Govender also congratulated Du Plessis on X. “Not a UFC fan, but I’m a huge fan of proudly SA legends. Dricus was incredible.

“And his post-match speech: ‘Can I get my flag? Dankie, South Warrior Dricus’ win lekker – as SA welcomes new champ First South African to win a UFC title Africa,’” Govender said.

Great things to come

SA national boxing coach Vusi Mokolo Jokazi, who coaches in Hatfield where Du Plessis also trains, said this win was only the beginning of great things to come.

“We never doubted him. We were waiting for him to collect the belt,” he said. Jokazi said there were many things we can learn from Du Plessis.

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“As someone close to him, know you learn from him in terms of humanity, business, family and loyalty,” he said.

Frikkie van der Merwe was training to box in an amateur league this year and described Du Plessis as a fighting Springbok.

“We are just as proud of him as we were on the Springboks.” Van der Merwe said Strickland was a better fighter than he anticipated and gave Du Plessis a tough fight.

“Yes, he won by one point, but a win is a win. He showed heart and determination to fight until the very end. Many people said he would never make it past round 2 but he showed he had a heart of a warrior,” he said.

‘Now they will pay attention to us’

Van der Merwe said Du Plessis bringing back the belt would have a massive impact on SA martial arts and boxing.

“Now they will pay attention to us and our martial arts and fighters.”

Fight fan Frankie Opperman said it was a close fight that could have gone either way.

“My favourite part was round 4 where Du Plessis showed he had the upper hand against Strickland. “It really could have gone in any direction.

The next challenge?

Israel Adesanya is the obvious next challenge,” Opperman said.

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Sizwe Valashiya said Du Plessis and his team showed the world that determination, faith and courage will let you overcome the toughest tests and Goliaths.

“He had us concerned in the first round as Strickland had the edge on him and was using his jab to block all his offensive attempts,” he said.

But Du Plessis turned things around from the moment he got his first takedown, he said.