Dricus du Plessis: ‘Anything can happen in a fight … but I’ll leave everything in that cage’

The whole nation will be waking up in the early hours of Sunday morning to see if South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis can make history and claim a Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title.

Du Plessis will enter the octagon at UFC297 in Toronto when he faces middleweight champion Sean Strickland for the title.

“Hulle weet nie wat ons weet nie (they don’t know what we know),” was his message to all South Africans when he spoke to The Citizen this week.

“What started as just a big moment for me has turned out to be a big moment for the whole of South Africa,” he said.

“Anything can happen in the fighting game, but win, lose or draw, I will be leaving everything in that cage.”

Brawlers

Du Plessis has torn through the middleweight division since his UFC debut in October 2020, amassing six victories – including an impressive knockout win over former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker.

Strickland is also coming off a massive performance when he beat then-champion Israel Adesanya on points at UFC293 in September.

Both men are brawlers who are not afraid to trade blows in order to win and they have built up this fight in the same fashion.

They came to blows in the crowd at UFC296 just over a month ago and had to be separated by security guards.

The war of words has been equally exciting with Strickland even threatening to “kill” Du Plessis after comments made by the South African which were directed at the abusive upbringing of the American.

“He (Strickland) is coming here to fight, I am coming here to fight, and at the end of the day, everyone is going to get their money’s worth,” Du Plessis said in the pre-fight conference on Thursday.

UFC in SA

If the back and forth in the build-up to the fight is anything to go by, then fight fans are in for a battle for the ages.

A win for Du Plessis could even see the UFC coming to South African shores for the very first time.

“If Dricus becomes world champion, it is a no brainer that we will be taking the UFC to South Africa,” said UFC president Dana White.

“South Africa has been on my radar for a very long time and we will get this figured out one way or another,” he added.

Dricus du Plessis vs Sean Strickland is available on DStv Access at 5am on Sunday on SuperSport Variety 4 (209) in three different South African languages: English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa.