MMA fever hits South Africa and compatriots stand firmly behind Pretoria’s MMA superstar

MMA fever hits South Africa and compatriots stand firmly behind Pretoria’s MMA superstar

When was the last time a martial arts athlete captured the imagination of South Africans so much that conversations about a world title fight in which he is involved can literally be heard around every corner?

Well, boxing as a fighting sport can certainly be considered part of mixed martial arts, so one would probably have to go back to the late seventies, eighties, and early nineties of the previous century, when men like Gerrie Coetzee and Brian Mitchell brought hope to the country in world title fights.

Pretoria’s own Dricus du Plessis has the country – and the world – buzzing and his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title fight against America’s Sean Strickland is on everyone’s lips.

The two fighters face each other in the main event of UFC 297 in the early hours of Sunday morning (SA time) in Canada and there has already been an extraordinary amount of controversy and media coverage surrounding this fight, which is likely to bring the tension to breaking point by late Sunday night – not only in South Africa among Du Plessis’ supporters, but also in the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada.

Since Du Plessis and Strickland got into a scuffle during the UFC 296 tournament in Las Vegas, America, while they were sitting as spectators in the audience, an unprecedented interest has built up worldwide about their upcoming fight.

On Friday, during the final press conference and weigh-in for Saturday’s (Sunday SA time) tournament, there was another controversial incident when a Strickland supporter had to be removed by security personnel after jumping on stage to seemingly shake his hero’s hand.

The incident was fortunately handled without much drama and the two fighters laughed about it with the UFC president, Dana White. With the microphone in hand, Strickland said that he and Du Plessis were going to try to kill each other, but it was all in good spirits, because he even shook hands with the South African right after he said it.

Du Plessis is certainly one of the most popular sports figures that South Africa has produced in a very long time and he is overwhelmed by support from all his countrymen – from ordinary citizens to fellow famous sportsmen and other celebrities.

There are almost no local supporters who doubt that he can win this fight. South Africans in their millions believe that by dawn on Sunday morning, the country will once again have a high-profile martial arts world champion to show off.

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