Local MMA superstar shows his class, may soon fight in Pretoria
Pretoria's golden boy and UFC world champion Dricus du Plessis, proved himself undeniably as a world-class MMA fighter this past weekend, when he beat the third UFC superstar in a row in the octagon.
On Sunday morning, the whole of South Africa turned on the kettle a little earlier than normal to get a bit of caffeine in the body before Pretoria’s own UFC champion, Dricus du Plessis, would defend his world titles for the first time.
Some may also have needed the “Boeretroos” to recover from the previous day’s party, when the Springboks’ so-called “B” team – with five young Bulls players in their ranks – beat Australia in Perth.
The Aussies of Perth could be forgiven if they suspected that there was a South African invasion of their city, because since Saturday there has probably been more Afrikaans spoken on the streets of this Western Australian city than normal.
WHAT A PERFORMANCE BY THE CHAMPION! 😤@DricusDuPlessis defends his middleweight title by forcing Israel Adesanya to tap! #UFC305 pic.twitter.com/SYa24zbUKa
— UFC (@ufc) August 18, 2024
Apart from the thousands of South Africans who already live there, quite a few Boeings full of South African supporters of the Springboks and Dricus du Plessis visited Perth at the weekend, while on top of that a huge “Afrikaans is Lekker” concert was also presented in this city on Saturday. Artists such as Juanita du Plessis, Kurt Darren and Brendan Peyper entertained the South African expats along the Australian west coast.
On Sunday morning (SA time), the party was able to continue when Du Plessis successfully defended his UFC middleweight title for the first time during the main fight of UFC 305 (Perth) against the former champion, Israel Adesanya. He forced the former Nigerian (nowadays New Zealander) to surrender using the face crank choke method.
Photo: Screenshot
With this victory, Du Plessis finally proved that he is a world class MMA fighter. In his last three fights, he beat three legends of the sport, namely Robert Whittaker, Sean Strickland and now Adesanya – all three former UFC champions.
The big question on everyone’s lips now is whether the big boss of the UFC, Dana White, is going to keep his word and host Du Plessis’ next fight in South Africa.
If so, the next question is where such a tournament will be presented. It is common knowledge that White is not interested in hosting any UFC tournament in an outdoor stadium.
🇿🇦 Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth walked out #UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis out for his successful title defence!pic.twitter.com/sEFfIjm76D
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) August 18, 2024
This leaves the UFC with the choice of only a few arenas in South Africa that will be equipped to host such a big event. Due to logistical reasons and the accessibility of large numbers of supporters, the choice will probably be limited to the SunBet Arena in Pretoria (capacity 10000), the ICC Durban Arena (capacity 10000) and the Bellville Velodrome in Cape Town (capacity 7500).
The Big Top Arena at Carnaval City, which can accommodate 5000 spectators, is also an outside horse, as it has already attracted many spectators to local EFC tournaments in the past and is quite accessible to all Gauteng supporters of the sport.
Among these possibilities, the SunBet Arena in Pretoria should be preferred for several reasons. The most important of these is that tickets are likely to sell like hotcakes, as it is located in Du Plessis’ home city, while it is hands down the most modern of all the available arenas.
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