Dricus Du
Plessis credits coach Morne Visser for the tip which helped him
finish Robert
Whittaker to earn a
UFC middleweight title shot.
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“Stillknocks” scored a second-round stoppage of Whittaker in their
title eliminator matchup at UFC 290 in July 2023. The South African
revealed that it was his coach’s plan to fight southpaw that earned
him the finish.
While Du Plessis admits Whittaker is almost technically flawless,
his team noticed “Bobby Knuckles” getting clipped against southpaws
even when the Australian emerged victorious. Du Plessis listened to
his coach’s advice to go southpaw and was rewarded perfectly.
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“All credit to my coach for that fight,” Du Plessis said on the
UFC
305 Countdown show. “There’s very very few holes in the game of
Robert
Whittaker. Fighting southpaws, he beat all of them but he got
caught a few times coming in. And we went through the videos and he
just showed me every time he saw it. And my coach came to me and
says, ‘OK we’re going to fight southpaw,’ and he was right. The
game plan worked out perfectly.”
💥Dricus Du Plessis’s coach, in the fight
with Whittaker, told him to switch to southpaw, which led to the
knockout.🎥 @UFC ▫️
pic.twitter.com/KuBxa1lTwd— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight)
August 10, 2024
Footage from UFC 290 also revealed then champion Israel
Adesanya, who has beaten Whittaker twice, rooting for Du
Plessis’ to win while attending the event. While a title fight
between Adesanya and Du Plessis was perfectly set then to settle
their rivalry, “Stillknocks” was sidelined with a foot injury after
UFC 290. That opened the door for Sean
Strickland to challenge Adesanya for the title at UFC 293 this
past September. Strickland put on a defensive masterclass to earn a
dominant unanimous decision win over Adesanya in one of the biggest
upsets in UFC title fight history.
Du Plessis, having already paid his dues for a title shot,
challenged Strickland at UFC 297 this past January, eking out a
razor thin split-decision win. The South African now finally meets
Adesanya in his first title defense at UFC 305 on Saturday in
Perth, Australia.