Dricus Du Plessis has just celebrated a full year as UFC middleweight champion, and is preparing to make the second defense of his title in this weekend's UFC 312 main event against Sean Strickland.
Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) won the belt in January of 2024 by beating Strickland by way of split decision, and he went on to successfully defend it when he submitted former champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 last August.
Adesanya had, for the most part, dominated the division ever since first winning becoming champion back in 2019 before losing his belt to Strickland at the end of 2023. "The Last Stylebender" looks to be struggling to regain his best form and was defeated again last weekend by Nassourdine Imavov, but Du Plessis has been looking back on their meeting last summer with a sense of relief.
"So, I mean, for six years the man has been at the top of the pile and he's been the benchmark of what you need to be able to beat to become the greatest in the world" the middleweight champion stated during an appearance on Demetrious Johnson's YouTube channel. "But I've said it before, the nerves for that fight was something...I would say the most nervous I've been for a fight, even more nervous than fighting for the title itself. Purely because knowing the pedigree that I'm fighting.
"You're fighting a guy that can literally, with one mistake, put your lights out" he continued. "You know, a lot of guys you fight, you know they're really good but, you know, you can get away with certain things because you can take one or two punches and afford mistakes. With a guy like Izzy, if you shoot at the wrong time, if your guard is down at the wrong time and with his accuracy and with his sniping striking style, he can put your lights out. I mean, we've seen this so many times with him".