UFC 297’s South African POWERHOUSE

Rising finisher, Dricus Du Plessis, will challenge boxing specialist, Sean Strickland, for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight gold this Saturday (Jan. 20, 2024) at UFC 297 inside Scotiabank Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

A lot of fans simply don’t like athletes like Du Plessis. Despite the knockouts and tremendous success — 20-2 with 19 finishes is undeniable in mixed martial arts (MMA) — there are still a lot of people who believe “Stillknocks” is a bad fighter with no gas tank.

Quite simply, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Du Plessis absolutely has a system. There’s a reason for all his success, his ability to consistently capitalize on his immense physical attributes and overwhelm his opponents. Like Jiri Prochazka before him, Du Plessis doesn’t have to follow the book to be a world-class fighter.

Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:

Striking

Prior to the start of his MMA career, Du Plessis was a teenage kickboxer representing South Africa in the WAKO World Championships. His striking assault is uniquely his own, but his kickboxing background certainly informs his distance offense.

Du Plessis is a switch-stance fighter. He doesn’t float between stances like T.J. Dillashaw or Dominick Cruz, but he can attack viciously as both a Southpaw or Orthodox athlete. He has two real primary ways to transition between the stances: powerful crosses and switch kicks.

Du Plessis throws so many switch kicks while at distance. His ability to throw unusually hard switch kicks from both stances is unusual, and it’s a big asset at range. Often, Du Plessis goes to work early on hammering his opponents legs. Against Robert Whittaker — a rightie — he did so from Southpaw, firing a right leg switch kick to the calf. Opposite a Southpaw in Derek Brunson, Du Plessis landed a lot of hard left switch kicks to the thigh from the Orthodox position. At any time, he can also punt the inner thigh/calf with a classic round kick, and he’s not afraid to kick the shin either.

At this stage of the game in MMA, outside low calf kicks are routine and expected. Du Plessis throws those too, sure, but his switch kicking has a different timing and angle to it. Add in the fact that Du Plessis also targets the body nicely with his switch kick and will occasionally try stomps or question mark kicks, and his kicking offense is actually quite underrated.

Du Plessis is a big fan of off-beat combinations, meaning he’ll kick and then punch. Time and time again, you’ll see Du Plessis flick up a lead leg switch kick to the body or calf, step that leg to the ground, and fall forward with powerful swings. These strikes catch his opponent off-guard because of the unusual timing, and if his foe backs away from the swings, DDP will complete the combo with a punishing kick at the end.

In terms of boxing, Du Plessis is an odd fighter. He does not always remain perfectly centered over his feet while building combinations … far from it. Often, Du Plessis is lunging into his power hand (GIF), using the cross to shift stances and march forward with another huge shifting swing. There’s a tradeoff here between power and safety, as Du Plessis is certainly vulnerable to counters while between stances.

That said, Du Plessis hides the shift well. He has the ability to fire good combinations within his stance, and he’s always playing with his opponent’s expectations and his own distance management. Time and time again, Du Plessis is able to surprise his opponent with a shot — the straight right hand, for instance — because he varies how it’s delivered.

Much of the time, Du Plessis throws his right by running into it. Sometimes, he’ll fire it crisply from within his stance (GIF). Occasionally, Du Plessis will literally jump forward off both feet behind his right. These shots come at different speeds and different timing, which make them more likely to connect.

Add in the switch kicking and his ability to show a switch step and instead burst forward, and it all gets very confusing foe his opponent. One element that could be added here is more body punching, but Du Plessis tends to land very well to the mid-section on the rare occasion that he tries.

His kicks work the body and legs well, but body hooks would be a great addition to his game!

Since Du Plessis is often crashing forward, he has to be prepared to attack from close quarters. He’s quite good at immediately slamming a knee into his opponent, but he’ll also rip nasty elbows in longer clinch exchanges.

The final important element to Du Plessis’ striking is his countering ability. Du Plessis relies on a high guard to keep him safe amidst all the chaos he creates, which has pros and cons. Obviously, keeping one’s hands high will help mitigate power shots, and he does a decent job of blocking. However, he also obscures his own vision a bit, which is why we occasionally see Du Plessis whiff terribly while looking for the counter.

All the same, Du Plessis has a long history of catching his opponents off-guard by firing back aggressively at the end of their combinations. Back in KSW, Du Plessis scored his best pre-UFC victory by planting his feet suddenly and cracking Roberto Soldic with a left hook.

Wrestling

Du Plessis started his martial arts journey with Judo and wrestling, but really, he wrestles like a Rugby player. DDP has straight up tackled people in the cage, and his absurd physicality makes it a viable strategy. He also has some of the nastiest ground striking I’ve seen in recent years!

Rugby tackles aside, Du Plessis has also shown some nice technical wrestling. His first takedown against Darren Till, for example, was a lovely moment. Early in the fight, “Stillknocks” threw a hook, grabbed the double-collar tie, and fired a knee. As Till pulled away from the clinch, Du Plessis changed levels with serious speed, blasting Till off his feet with a perfect double leg.

Textbook!

I haven’t decided if Du Plessis’ headlock toss of Robert Whittaker was a technical moment or not. On one hand, headlock throws are stupid and bad. At the same time, Du Plessis did force Whittaker to the floor, control the position, and batter him, so … objectively it worked pretty well! I’ll take an objective look at the technique: Du Plessis did good work in securing a strong grip, solid angle, and blocked just above the knee with his leg as he forced Whittaker to the ground.

Du Plessis’ takedown defense is as chaotic as his stand up, and the first round of the Derek Brunson fight really illustrated this. At least twice, Du Plessis fully shucked off a takedown attempt with a strong sprawl but then tried to capitalize too aggressively, which saw him forced to his back anyway. Fortunately, He does a remarkable job of scrambling endlessly and forcing his opponent to exhaust himself — which benefits Du Plessis in the end.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Du Plessis has ten wins via tapout and spent most of the early portion of his career strangling his opposition.

On the floor, DDP is all about the neck. As soon as he gains top position, he starts throwing elbows and reaching for his opponent’s head. He’ll use the can opener, guillotine grip, d’arce choke — all way to crank on his opponent’s neck and exhaust them. Against Whittaker, Du Plessis used the Tozi pass, a rarely seen in the cage manner of jamming an opponent’s head under their hips to force the guard open.

These are all brutal, punishing methods to control and threaten an opponent.

Du Plessis’ work from top position against Whittaker really changed the fight. For roughly 60 seconds, he cranked on Whittaker’s neck from half guard, threatening the d’arce and guillotine. Any time Whittaker moved to pull away and go flat, Du Plessis would savage him with elbows and convince him to sit up back into the chokes/cranks.

Whittaker walked to his corner battered. Prior to UFC, Du Plessis secured finishes via the classic guillotine and arm-across variation.

Du Plessis will also hunt for the back mount. Rear naked chokes account for the majority of his submission wins, and they all were assisted by a heavy handful of ground strikes along the way. Notably, Darren Till fell victim to a face crank, but he was finished by the rough-and-tumble fight as much as the strangle itself (GIF).

A final and inconsequential note: Du Plessis is the only fighter I can think of who has TWICE in separate fights attempted a twisting footlock in the Octagon.

Conclusion

Du Plessis has incredible physical attributes and a strategy that imposes them on his opponent. Regardless of whether he leaves the cage with a title around his waist, “Stillknocks” is a world-class Middleweight and incredible finisher.

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Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 297 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPNEWS at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

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