Dricus du Plessis reveals ‘brain freeze’ from icy swim ahead of UFC title fight

South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis knew he was going to Canada in the middle of their winter but the extent of the weather caught the UFC middleweight off-guard.

“Oh no, that was crazy. It is something we are not used to in South Africa, but I am loving the cold weather,” Du Plessis told The Citizen this week.

The man from Pretoria will be involved in the fight of his career this weekend when he takes on American, Sean Strickland, for the UFC middleweight title in Toronto.

But on his arrival in Canada he had a fight of a different kind on his hands.

‘It was so cold’

As is the norm for most elite athletes they start their day in an ice bath to get the blood flowing and the adrenaline pumping.

But Du Plessis and some friends decided to do things a bit differently in the extreme Toronto conditions.

“I don’t train on Sundays, so we decided to go to Lake Ontario to go do a plunge, but it was -11 degrees Celsius. The sand on the beach was frozen solid it was so cold,” he said.

“I was in my South African speedo and in we went. Everyone decided to just go in up to their waist, but I decided to dive in.

“I knew this was a terrible idea. The temperature of the water is something I am used to, but when I got out it was like the universe was playing a joke on me.

“I was in the water for about a minute, but when I got out there was a gust of wind and in about 15 seconds my hair was frozen solid,” he said with a chuckle.

Frostbite

There was even a moment when he thought his shot at the title was in jeopardy.

“I immediately thought to myself, I have a fight coming up and I cannot afford to get frostbite. My brain felt like it was frozen.”

Luckily for Du Plessis and all the South Africans it was just a temporary moment of pain and he is 100% fine to make the whole country proud on Sunday.

Dricus du Plessis v Sean Strickland is available on DStv Access at 5am Sunday 21 January on SuperSport Variety 4 (209) in three different South African languages: English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa.