Dricus Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland by split decision. Image: X
Dricus Du Plessis calls out Adesanya after winning the UFC title
“There was another guy who tried to take away my shine, he lost his shine and now I have your shine,” Dricus du Plessis on Israel Adesanya.
Dricus Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland by split decision. Image: X
Pretoria-born professional mixed martial artist Dricus Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland by split decision to win the UFC Middleweight championship for the first time.
The 30-year-old stuck to his gameplan and survived five rounds even though many expected him to fade out by the third round.
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In the early stages of the fight, the Toronto crowd got behind their boy Strickland, but by the fifth round, most of the crowd started chanting ‘DDP’.
Despite losing the first round, du Plessis ultimately came back to defear Sean Strickland by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47).
Dricus ‘Stillknocks’ du Plessis wins the UFC title
“If we go quite right now, you can probably here South Africa from here right now!” said du Plessis to the crowd after he was announced the new champion
“I saw Alex Pereira get in the cage and I thought, ‘Okay, here we go again,'” he said.
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Dricus du Plessis also had a few words to say about Israel Adesanya, who he was supposed to fight last year.
“There was another guy who tried to take away my shine, he lost his shine and now I have your shine. He didn’t get into the cage tonight.
“Israel Adesanya get your **s back in the UFC so we can settle the score,” du Plessis said.
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