When will Dricus du Plessis fight again?

In a blockbuster battle earlier this year, Dricus du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland by split decision to win the UFC middleweight title in stunning fashion, and become the first South African UFC title holder.

Since that bout, Du Plessis has been recovering from injury, and he has made it clear that he is now in a position to wait until a suitable time and opponent can be scheduled into an upcoming fight card.

Dricus du Plessis has earned the right to pick his fight

The 30-year-old has already made it clear that it was not possible to feature on the upcoming mega card at UFC 300 in April. Instead, it’s clear that Du Plessis wants to wait for the UFC to come to South Africa, and for Nigerian Israel Adesanya to be his opponent.

“Let’s make UFC Africa, let’s make that happen,” Du Plessis commented when speaking on teammate Cameron Saaiman’s podcast. “That is what I would love, in an ideal situation, fighting Israel Adesanya on South African soil.  Hosting that event and making history for Africa, for the UFC, for myself and for him… that’s his heritage, he was born in Africa.

“If they want to do it this year, I will wait for that fight because that is the fight to make, that is a legacy fight for both of us.

“I think it would mean the world to do this in Africa. He claimed he’d drag my carcass around South Africa so let’s make that happen. If it’s not a possibility this year… that is the only thing that would make me wait. If not, I want to fight two more times this year.”

Pretoria-born star determined to see UFC dream come true

Du Plessis’ latest triumph once again united South Africa behind a sporting success story, while the build-up to the fight – as well as the bout itself – undoubtedly brought a huge new following to UFC from sports lovers in Mzansi.

Prior to the fight, Du Plessis said in an exclusive interview with TheSouthAfrican that his ‘one wish’ for the bout was to see it result in the UFC coming 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.”