Dricus du Plessis is the champion of the world. Photo: X
How much did Dricus du Plessis win as UFC champ?
It’s a huge pay day for Dricus du Plessis after he claimed a stunning victory over Sean Strickland in the UFC Middleweight championship.
Dricus du Plessis is the champion of the world. Photo: X
Dricus du Plessis is the new champion of the world, uniting South African with a sensational split decision victory to claim the UFC Middleweight championship gold.
Initially, Strickland seemed to be in the ascendancy, but Du Plessis got stronger and stronger as the fight went on, ultimately doing enough to claim a historic result.
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Dricus du Plessis was a big winner in more ways than one
Coming into the bout, Du Plessis was guaranteed a $350,000 base pay and $32,000 in incentives (around R7.62 million).
In addition, the winner earns double base pay for a win – excluding PPV buys and any performance of the night bonuses – and so it means Du Plessis should roughly walk away with roughly R15 million in a whopping pay day.
Dricus Du Plessis edges technical masterclass to win UFC title
‘Stillknocks’ had one big wish prior to the fight
Although South Africans had to wake up quite early for the fight, Du Plessis had said he couldn’t wait to have the nation unite behind him.
“South Africa, I know it’s a little early, but crack a beer, get the braai going, it’s going to be electric! I just can’t wait to see the whole country buzzing when we get my hand raised after winning the title. I can’t wait to see the videos of all the watch parties, this is going to be a World Cup 2.0”
Meanwhile, the 29-year-old said he also hoped that a victory for him this weekend could inspire the UFC to bring an event to South Africa after seeing all the support and interest that has come out of the country.
“I only have one dream, the rest is work that I’ve already done for this. I don’t want to be given anything, I’ll take it. But there is one wish after hearing Dana White talking at a press conference about possibly bringing a UFC event to South Africa … that would be the dream…. It’s not totally in my control, but being a champion and getting an entire country hyped up for the UFC would go a long way.”
