- Dricus du Plessis thinks Sean Strickland’s incident with an intruder is just normal
- “Stillknocks” weighed in on how he would’ve matched up with Israel Adesanya and how fight with “Tarzan” will go down
- The 29-year-old talked about moving up to light heavyweight
Dricus du Plessis is not shocked by the incident that took place at Sean Strickland’s property. And while he is focused on winning the middleweight belt, “Stillknocks” also has plans of moving up to light heavyweight.
Not surprised
Speaking to Submission Radio, Du Plessis said that Strickland’s incident with an intruder is just a normal thing in Africa. In fact, “Stillknocks” even revealed that their old house got broken into about “six times.”
“That’s most normal thing in the world,” Du Plessis said. “I was like Oh cool I mean that happens like weekly over here. Go search on the internet and you’ll see… Just my own house growing up, it’s been broken into maybe six times, five six times, talking about the TV is gone uh radio is gone phones are gone, stolen right next to your bed.”
“Afrian criminals aren’t getting caught these guys are smart they are like we would say, if you would look at somebody that is a specialist, if you look at a guy like what can I say a Gilbert Burns for example, our thieves will kick the American thieves’ ass. If there’s Olympics for stealing stuff, I promise you South African thieves wins it any day of the week. They are too smart,” he added.
From written off to title contender
Du Plessis then reflected on his rise to title contention. For “Stillknocks,” he has always been proving himself and stopping former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is the end result of all the hard work he put in.
“I’ve been involved in this sport. I’ve dedicated my life to this sport for what almost 14 years, since I was 15 years old professionally now for just over 10 years and to go out there and beat a guy like Robert Whittaker, in a career even though that is not my destination, that’s not the highest peak for me that is for where I am right now that was the biggest moment of my career and you know all the hard work paid off all the hard work up until that night, has paid off,” Du Plessis opened up.
Sean or Izzy?
Du Plessis has yet to face Israel Adesanya and is about to find out what it’s like to face Strickland. However, he already has an idea about how a fight with Izzy would’ve played out. According to “Stillknocks,” he would have beaten Adesanya in any way he wanted and if Alex Pereira knocked him out, he is certain he could do it better.
As for Strickland, Du Plessis knows “Tarzan” will fight his guts out inside the cage like him and their UFC 297 bout will be a Fight of the Year contender.
“I’m not just standing there in the pocket throwing with him because that’s his fight style. That’s his style I’m making sure that I’m fighting a smart fight and that whatever I throw like I said I need one shot I need to learn one shot if Pereira could knock him out I can knock him out even better,” Du Plessis assessed.
“I honestly believe that I would have grabbed him and I would have manhandled him to be honest,” Du Plessis said of fighting Adesanya. “Even in a clinch, I know he has good takedown defense but I don’t think people understand the difference between myself and Israel Adesanya. If I would have grabbed him it would have been a very long night well no it wouldn’t have been a long night but you know, obviously his striking is good. I don’t think, there’s no way he knocks me out but he is going to be fighting in a way where he’s catching, throwing 1-2s and he’s moving and moving so I think it would have been up to me to make the fight entertaining.”
“I go out there to win or die trying and that’s one thing I can say from Sean, he goes out there and he wants to fight. It’s an incredible fight. I think fans are going to love it and you know I’m going to be very surprised if this is not a Fight of the Year Contender” he added.
205 sounds good
When asked if he would ever move up to light heavyweight should he ends up dethroning Strickland, Du Plessis said he would love to but only after beating Khamzat Chimaev and Israel Adesanya.
“That all depends on how the division opens up you know I would still love to fight Israel Adesanya 100% it would be my first choice as a defense it’ll be great but I’m assuming comes out the guy they’re going to try and push, that’ll be cool. I would do want to defend my belt before [moving up]. It’s all going to come down to who I beat and how good I make it look. If I go out there and I absolutely destroy Khamzat you know what’s what’s there really left, if I go out there and I beat Israel Adesanya, after becoming Champion, really Izzy wiped out the whole division, the two guys who wiped out the division was Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya. Beating those two guys doesn’t really leave any room left,” Du Plessis explained.
“I’m a big guy I can definitely hang with the guys at 205. I’ll be giving up a little bit of reach but you know in terms of strength and power and size I’m right there but no that’s talking down the line for now I have one goal. To destroy Strickland. After that, the goal will shift to whatever happens next. Of course I want that double champ status everybody does,” he added.
Du Plessis will try and steal the crown from reigning middleweight champion Sean Strickland at UFC 297. He has been unbeaten in the UFC and is coming off a TKO win over Whittaker.
Check out Du Plessis’ full interview below:
