What UFC Fighters "Really" think about Dricus Du Plessis ?

Summary

This transcript covers a UFC post-fight show discussing newly crowned middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis. The hosts analyze Du Plessis's unique, awkward fighting style and how it allows him to effectively overcome opponents. They credit Du Plessis for his will, hunger, and calculated offense. The discussion also covers Du Plessis's journey to become champion after 15 years of sacrifice and support from family. As the fourth African UFC champion, he serves as an inspiration.

Takeaways

• 😊 Nganou didn't expect Dricus to become middleweight champion but has gained appreciation for his unique style
• 👍 Dricus achieved success in a way few expected by defeating top contenders like Till and Brunson
• 💪 Dricus displays an awkward, aggressive style that is difficult to prepare for
• 🤔 Analysts initially struggled to breakdown Dricus's style but are now recognizing his effectiveness
• 😼 Dricus prioritizes offense and finishing fights over point scoring
• 🇿🇦 Dricus credits his success to the sacrifice and support of his family and South African upbringing
• 🌪️ Izzy compares Dricus's style to a 'circus' that is unpredictable and 'feral'
• 🧠 Dricus makes adjustments during fights to improve timing and expand his arsenal
• 🔥 Nganou wants a rematch with Dricus to make up for not giving him proper 'respect' before
• 👑 Dricus is the 4th African champion in UFC history

Q & A

Who became the middleweight champion as mentioned in the transcript?

Drakus Duplex became the middleweight champion.

What unique fighting style is attributed to Drakus Duplex?

Drakus Duplex is noted for his unconventional and unorthodox fighting style, which includes elements that are not typically taught or expected in traditional combat sports training.

What significant achievement did Duplex have before becoming a mixed martial artist?

Before becoming a mixed martial artist, Duplex became a junior world champion in K1 at the age of 18 in Slovakia, which was considered an impossible feat by many in South Africa at the time.

How did Duplex demonstrate his grappling skills in a notable match?

Duplex demonstrated his grappling skills by defeating an entire Gracie Barra team in a quintet match, securing victories through a variety of submissions and on points.

What notable fighters did Duplex defeat to prove his capability?

Duplex defeated fighters like Brad Tarez, Darren Till, and Derek Bronson, showcasing his ability to outperform competitors who had previously been highly ranked or had shown significant prowess.

What is the perspective of other fighters on Duplex's fighting style?

Other fighters have mixed views on Duplex's style, with some criticizing it as awkward or sloppy, while others acknowledge its effectiveness and the difficulty in countering such an unorthodox approach.

What cultural influence is mentioned as part of Duplex's fighting style?

Duplex's fighting style is said to be influenced by South African culture, emphasizing desire, will, and a forward-moving, aggressive approach that prioritizes offense and finishes over defensive tactics.

What aspect of Duplex's technique is highlighted as needing improvement?

The aspect highlighted for improvement is his tendency to separate defense from offense, rather than integrating counterattacks into his defensive movements.

How does Duplex's background in kickboxing and martial arts contribute to his MMA success?

Duplex's background contributes through his ability to adapt and apply his kickboxing and martial arts skills in MMA, using unorthodox angles and strategies to overcome opponents.

What personal sacrifices did Duplex mention making for his career?

Duplex mentioned making significant personal sacrifices for his career, such as missing family matters, weddings, and once-in-a-lifetime parties, highlighting the dedication and commitment required to reach his level of success.

Outlines

00:00

🥊 Dra Duplex's Unconventional Path to Champion

This paragraph emphasizes the unconventional and unexpected rise of Dra Duplex to the status of a middleweight champion in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA). Despite initial skepticism about his potential, Duplex's unique approach and distinctive fighting style have proven successful, leading to a newfound appreciation for his capabilities. His journey from being an undercard fighter to achieving significant victories, including defeating an entire team of Gracies in a quintet match, illustrates his extraordinary talent and determination. Duplex's ability to execute unorthodox techniques and win against top-ranked fighters has solidified his position as a formidable champion, challenging preconceived notions about fighting styles in MMA.

05:02

🌟 Duplex's Impact and Fighting Style

This paragraph delves into the nuances of Duplex's fighting style and its impact on both spectators and fellow fighters. Despite criticisms of his technique as unorthodox or awkward, Duplex's approach is characterized by a strong offensive strategy, rooted in South African martial arts culture and his personal determination. His ability to adapt, make adjustments during fights, and utilize his unique stance and movements has baffled opponents and analysts alike. The summary highlights the difficulty opponents face when trying to predict Duplex's next move, showcasing his ability to remain effective and dominant in the ring, regardless of the unconventional aesthetics of his style. Duplex's journey underscores the importance of adaptability, resilience, and the willingness to embrace one's distinctiveness in achieving success.

Keywords

💡Fighting Style

The fighting style refers to the techniques, tactics, and overall approach a fighter uses in MMA matches. The video discusses how Dricus du Plessis has an awkward, unorthodox, and aggressive style that is difficult to deal with. It focuses heavily on forward pressure and offense rather than technique. Examples from the script showing this include "it doesn't look the same", "his body language says I'm exhausted but the way that he is fighting still doesn't really change", and "just straight desire and will".

💡Adjustments

Adjustments refer to the adaptations Dricus du Plessis makes during fights to improve his effectiveness. The video praises his ability to make tactical tweaks from round to round. Examples include "making adjustments...changing the look of the the kick" and "realizing some of his shots were pulling that little bit short".

💡South African Culture

The unique South African cultural background of Dricus du Plessis is mentioned as shaping his aggressive, high-pressure style. The speaker says his approach "is rooted in South African culture" and "straight desire and will". This background has driven his improbable rise.

💡Progression

Progression refers to Dricus du Plessis' improvement over successive fights, both technically and in earning respect. The script notes he is adding new techniques and dimension, changing perceptions over time. Examples include going "longer" on combos, being better understood by analysts now, and shocking top opponents.

💡Striking Defense

The video is critical of one key aspect - Dricus du Plessis' defensive striking. It notes he focuses heavily on offense rather than employing counter strikes. The speaker notes "he's either defending or he's striking - he doesn't counter a lot."

💡Champion Mindset

Becoming champion requires tremendous perseverance and sacrifice over many years, as Dricus du Plessis discusses. He cites missing major life events like parties and weddings because of his singular focus to reach the pinnacle through his relentless will.

💡Violent Finisher

The script highlights Dricus du Plessis as prioritizing violent fight finishes over decisions, unlike most fighters. Examples include "he is an offensive Force", "he prioritizes finishes", and "doesn't have a lot of decision wins" showcasing his finishing mentality.

💡Legendary Victories

Dricus du Plessis' growing resume of spectacular wins over elite competition is a key theme. Beating a Gracie jiu-jitsu team, top-ranked Brad Tavares, highly touted Khamzat Chimaev, and former champ Robert Whittaker represent his astonishing rise.

💡Awkward Angles

Despite the awkwardness of Dricus du Plessis' style, the video says he still calculates and lands strikes "from weird angles" that shock opponents. Examples like "throws a kick" showcase unusual but effective offense.

💡Appreciation

A key message is marquee fighters like Israel Adesanya gaining appreciation, respect, and understanding for Dricus du Plessis' uniquie skills over time despite initial doubts. Adesanya says "I have a better understanding of what he's doing now" after admittedly not giving him "the respect he deserves" before.

Highlights

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Transcripts

I I'll tell you this man I I never

thought that we'd be here today with dra

is duplex as the middleweight champion

world I didn't know but as he told me

earlier in the week and as I Now

understand he does things his own way

and I am learning even though I've been

in this game for a long time that all

mixed martial arts doesn't look the same

sometimes it looks different and Dr

duple looks different but as I now have

gained an appreciation for for his style

I know what it looks like to me now it

looks like a champion of the

world and Dy who was an undercard

fighter and who was not in the top 10

who was never in a discussion to be a

star to be a draw to be a press

conference hit to be somebody sponsors

wanted to get behind to be a guy that

was going to get seven figure checks be

one of the very few guys to be put in a

position where he when he retires from

the sport he can choose moving forward

what he does with his time no but nobody

has had dupy there except for

dupy you know my first amateur World

title I fought for a K1 a world title in

um in Slovakia when I was 18 years old

and that's for South African that was

also unheard of impossible they said it

won't happen even South Africa uh the

coaches in South Africa said that's not

happening uh because we just don't

compete at the level that these guys do

and uh I made it happen I became a

junior world

champion and then you factor into the

equation

that he defeated an entire Gracie baraha

team in a quintet match he had a

guillotine a one arm Guillotine a North

sou chalk a do chalk and he won the

other match on points he took out an

entire team of

Gracies every fight has that moment you

know when uh when I fought a guy like

Brad tarez and I landed the amount of

significant strikes that I landed after

him being such an I mean umari aget of

who he beat very convincingly before

that was in the top five if I'm not

mistaken top 10 for a very long time and

then of course fighting Darren till a

guy went five rounds with the great

Robert Whitaker and uh actually put

Whitaker down in the first round and W

couldn't take him down I took him down

six times out of six and that was

another testimony to what I have uh you

know getting dere Bronson getting that

takedown on Derek Bronson where I mean

youer couldn't get it um getting the

takedown on Robert wher which you Romero

couldn't do and um now knocking out

Robert whiter for the first time in a

decade uh other than the champion of

course no every fight has that that one

thing to remind you that I belong here

and I'm the I can be the best fighter in

the

world in my personal view cuz I he beat

me before and I want that rematch I want

to to rematch him obviously that's not

what I'm thinking about at the moment I

want to fight Costa but drias is on a

list of people I want a

rematch but seeing that fight from him

it it made me realize that I I did not

prepare adequately for him I did not

give him the respect he deserves I

understand he was a hard and tough

fighter but I don't think I understood

how tough and strong and hungry he

really was and uh you know respect to

that like there are certain Fighters

that have wars and there are certain

Fighters that like create circuses like

uh Julian Arosa is another fighter julan

doesn't have Wars I call those circuses

because you're just like what the hell

is happening like things start like he

starts doing weird stuff like they're

like he's he's a circus guy and I think

drus is a circus guy man like I've never

I would never like hold drus up as like

the Pinnacle of like kickboxing

technique like like a technical

kickboxer but it's just weird he's

running at you like it's almost like

Angry flailing and like it's like feral

almost but like it creates a

circus I think what we run into

sometimes with dup plus e is the

Aesthetics of of his style it doesn't

look the same it doesn't look like we're

what we're used to looking at it's hard

to break down it's hard to even be an

analyst for his body language says I'm

exhausted but the way that he is

fighting still doesn't really change so

I think maybe some of that's on us maybe

we need to get used to what we're

looking at and just accept that maybe

the fighting style isn't changing even

if the Aesthetics does make him look

tired um and yeah it may not look pretty

it's not what a coach or you know some

kind of online tutorial would tell you

to do specifically from an execution

standpoint it might even look a little

bit sloppy but it doesn't matter because

the way he's able to put it all together

allows him to win rounds and I would

argue for people who are in the sport

for people who have trained in MMA or

Jiu-Jitsu the most difficult guy to deal

with often times is that guy who is not

moving at a rhythm or a pace or in a way

that you are used to I would much prefer

to go against in many cases someone who

is highly technical who I could read

their patterns and movements really well

something that I'm used to um as opposed

to someone who I have no idea what

they're going to do next and draus

brings that um again not the prettiest

thing but it doesn't have to sometimes

in combat it doesn't have to be pretty

you just got to get it

done isn't it weird when you watch dup C

and then it kind of makes sense that

that's what happened for me when I

watched him fight Robert Whitaker for so

long I felt like well what what's his

plan like what's he doing like is he

just freestyling it made sense in the

Whitaker fight I was like okay now I can

see I have a better understanding of

what he's doing now I know that he has a

purpose and he's doing things in a way

that he intends to do them last weekend

it was even on more display and I feel

like that's why you go okay now I

appreciate draus because now it kind of

becomes clear to you wow this dude dude

really does or has developed a fighting

style that works for

him in terms of Drake is dup's style

there have been a lot of professional

fighters who have publicly or privately

criticized him and said oh he's not very

good and you know certainly there are

things that maybe are undeniable the

footwork is awkward and and unorthodox

and maybe just a little bit

sloppy he is an offensive Force he is an

offensive fighter that prioritizes

offense he priori his finishes right

doesn't have a lot of decision wins this

was the first time he had realized a

fourth round and and I think a lot of

his style is something that is rooted in

South African culture and I might lose

some people here but part of his martial

arts style is rooted in just straight

desire and will or you look at all his

fights he never really backs up he back

up a little bit then he goes right back

the edge of the Void stage the edge of

void high high guard switches to Sapa or

Orthodox throws a kick

it goes

forward um his awkwardness even though

it looks awkward uh for dricus it's

still calculated it's not like uh like

he throws things from weird angles but

you could see making adjustments uh

making things look like this going a bit

longer adding things onto certain combos

he did earlier in the fight um going a

little bit longer realizing some of his

shots were pulling that little bit short

um changing the look of the the kick

which uh landed a few times Sean thought

that was going to the body um just uh

you know few few good adjustments from

drias which uh I was were wondering in

my breakdown I said I think drias is uh

K will hold

up man he's tough is he he's aw really

is like he was throwing overhands left

overhands right overhands from the start

to the Finish he like he was switching

stances constantly spent as much time

with southp as he did Orthodox which got

to give him credit for because he he he

did well in those stances he had attacks

he landed head kicks on on Strickland

several times it's uh yeah he's such a

big strong awkward guy to fight but he

can fight well you have to give him that

the only thing I would add with dup plus

e honestly it it's it was my only

critique I had of him even on the all

the pre-shows he's only he's he's either

defending or he's striking he doesn't

counter a lot like it's he's defending

defending defending and then when he's

done and or whoever is throwing strikes

at him is done then he goes and but if

you start to go in the middle of that

he'll stop and defend which is not bad I

mean it's but the next level of

evolution in your striking to continue

to grow to a high level is to be able to

do both things at the same time which is

like uh I don't know bulanowski does it

better than

anybody yeah becoming Champion uh is a

culmination of of of 15 years of my life

the amount of times that I couldn't

attend Family Matters the amount of

times that I couldn't attend uh weddings

just to get on top of my head great

parties that's never going to happen

again like once in lifetime parties I'm

telling you that I couldn't go to and um

just the sacrifices that's made and to

be able to see how proud my dad is of me

and all this and love that my mom and

dad has been giv me my whole life my

whole career and they supported this

they wanted this just as bad as I did

now he is the fourth African champion in

the UFC history so congrats to you my

African brother drias

duples