Dricus du Plessis added another impressive win to his résumé at UFC 305 when he vanquished former champion Israel Adesanya by submission to defend his UFC middleweight title for the first time.
While there were certainly dicey moments in the fight for both competitors, du Plessis displayed his usual grit and determination to weather a few storms from Adesanya before dishing out punishment of his own and then finishing with a nasty rear-naked choke. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan wasn’t in Australia to call the fights — he doesn’t travel to international events — but he still witnessed du Plessis dispatch yet another opponent to remain undefeated in UFC.
“Dricus is a f*cking animal,” Rogan said during his UFC 305 Fight Companion podcast. “He’s a f*cking animal. Holy shit. I was saying that those punches, even though he’s exhausted, you can’t be in those exchanges. You’re going to get clipped. If you get clipped, you’re in real trouble. F*ck, [Adesanya] got hit with those big right hands. He got rocked with those right hands.”
Technically speaking, du Plessis rarely gets mentioned as one of the slickest or cleanest fighters on the UFC roster, yet he always finds a way to win.
Even when he looks exhausted, the South African middleweight seem to shift into a new gear when the time is right, just as he did against Adesanya when it appeared the tides were turning against him. Moments later, he had his hands raised in victory.
“Very awkward, no quit, big power, super durable,” Rogan said of du Plessis. “Takes a great shot. Amazing heart. I mean, he got pieced up. He rocked [Adesanya]. Those are big right hands. They caught him right in the side of the head and he caught him with two in a row. You can’t count that guy out.
“Whenever you have these exchanges and you see these winging punches come Izzy’s way, anything can happen. When you’re tired and you’re not moving back as good as you were in the second and the first [rounds], shit happens. That’s a definitive victory.”
Based on UFC’s promotional rankings, du Plessis now holds wins over the top three ranked contenders: Former champions Adesanya, Robert Whittaker, and Sean Strickland. At UFC 305, du Plessis also became the first person in history to finish Adesanya via submission across 28 professional bouts, including 12 consecutive UFC title bouts for Adesanya.
“He finished Izzy with a rear-naked choke,” Rogan said. “Nobody’s finished Izzy like that in a fight ever in the UFC. No one’s submitted him like that. That’s a crazy victory.”
Following the win, du Plessis addressed a potential rematch against Strickland, who he beat to win the title in January, and he also acknowledged Whittaker as a possible opponent down the road as well.
Perhaps the biggest fight available to the reigning UFC middleweight champion is a showdown against Alex Pereira, who teased a potential return to 185 pounds after watching Adesanya get finished in the fourth round.
As much as du Plessis welcomed that challenge, he told Pereira to stay at his current weight as UFC light heavyweight champion and perhaps they’d meet there instead. Pereira moved to 205 pounds largely because the weight cuts to compete at middleweight were draining.
“[Du Plessis] could definitely go to 205,” Rogan said of the matchup. “Wouldn’t you love to see him try? He can take a shot, for sure. But can you take a shot from [Pereira] and can you take a shot from that guy at 205? Because that guy at 205 puts everybody night-night. Everybody goes night-night.”
In four fights at light heavyweight, Pereira has scored three knockouts — all in title fights — and he already has his next assignment booked against Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307 in October.
There’s no telling if UFC even has interest in booking du Plessis against Pereira, but if that fight ever happens, Rogan promises he won’t be staying home for that matchup, even if it takes place at an international location — or perhaps even outer space.
“If Dricus goes up to 205 and fights Alex, oh my goodness,” Rogan said. “I’ll fly to the moon to commentate that fight. I want to see that fight. That’s crazy.”
