MMA fighters say all the time that they are willing to die in the cage in order to feel the spirit of victory, but UFC middleweight champ Dricus du Plessis says he’s willing to take things much further than that.
Du Plessis defends his title this Saturday in the main event of UFC 312 in a rematch against Sean Strickland in Sydney, Australia. Ahead of most fights, Strickland promises the fans that he’s willing to deliver and take brutality in the octagon, but in a recent interview ahead of the fight, du Plessis revealed a bone-chilling truth about his in-fight mentality.
“When I go in there, if the ref doesn’t stop it, I’m not stopping,” du Plessis told Mark Bouris. “I can be sitting on you for 10 minutes bashing your face and if the ref doesn’t say stop, I’m not stopping.
“That is the question that me, as a modern-day gladiator has to ask myself: Am I still willing to die? Absolutely. That’s easy. It is, are you willing to kill a man in front of his family? Yes, I am, and that’s why I’m the world champion, because I say yes to that question every single time.
“But that’s Dricus ‘Stillknocks’ du Plessis, that’s not Dricus the guy that you see right here.”
In their first meeting a little over a year ago, du Plessis defeated Strickland to capture his first world title via split decision at UFC 297. “Stillknocks” successfully defended the belt by stopping Israel Adesanya in August at UFC 305, while Strickland earned the rematch with a decision win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302 in June.
Strickland already laid out a challenge to du Plessis to have an all-standup fight which garnered some headlines. Du Plessis was puzzled by that, since he feels he gave Strickland what he asked for 13 months ago.
“That was exactly what we did the last time,” du Plessis said. “He said, ‘To death, let’s go, ‘let’s fight to death,’ and the man threw a jab and a teep for five rounds. And this is a stat, you can check it, for 23 minutes I went forward, he went forward for two minutes.
“That is a very clear indication of who is there to fight, and who is there to defend. He’s not banging, and listen, very effective style. That’s his style, but let’s not go and act as if Sean Strickland fights are entertaining. The man has eight split decisions — six victories, two losses against me and Cannonier. That is not somebody who is looking for an exciting fight.”
