All Article Properties:
{
"access_control": false,
"status": "publish",
"objectType": "Article",
"id": "1311026",
"signature": "Article:1311026",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-06-30-south-africas-dricus-du-plessis-is-ready-for-ufc-276-bout/",
"shorturl": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/article/1311026",
"slug": "south-africas-dricus-du-plessis-is-ready-for-ufc-276-bout",
"contentType": {
"id": "1",
"name": "Article",
"slug": "article"
},
"views": 0,
"comments": 0,
"preview_limit": null,
"excludedFromGoogleSearchEngine": 0,
"title": "South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis is ready for UFC 276 bout",
"firstPublished": "2022-06-30 22:23:59",
"lastUpdate": "2022-07-19 12:36:39",
"categories": [
{
"id": "29",
"name": "South Africa",
"signature": "Category:29",
"slug": "south-africa",
"typeId": {
"typeId": "1",
"name": "Daily Maverick",
"slug": "",
"includeInIssue": "0",
"shortened_domain": "",
"stylesheetClass": "",
"domain": "staging.dailymaverick.co.za",
"articleUrlPrefix": "",
"access_groups": "[]",
"locale": "",
"preview_limit": null
},
"parentId": null,
"parent": [],
"image": "",
"cover": "",
"logo": "",
"paid": "0",
"objectType": "Category",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/category/south-africa/",
"cssCode": "",
"template": "default",
"tagline": "",
"link_param": null,
"description": "Daily Maverick is an independent online news publication and weekly print newspaper in South Africa.\r\n\r\nIt is known for breaking some of the defining stories of South Africa in the past decade, including the Marikana Massacre, in which the South African Police Service killed 34 miners in August 2012.\r\n\r\nIt also investigated the Gupta Leaks, which won the 2019 Global Shining Light Award.\r\n\r\nThat investigation was credited with exposing the Indian-born Gupta family and former President Jacob Zuma for their role in the systemic political corruption referred to as state capture.\r\n\r\nIn 2018, co-founder and editor-in-chief Branislav ‘Branko’ Brkic was awarded the country’s prestigious Nat Nakasa Award, recognised for initiating the investigative collaboration after receiving the hard drive that included the email tranche.\r\n\r\nIn 2021, co-founder and CEO Styli Charalambous also received the award.\r\n\r\nDaily Maverick covers the latest political and news developments in South Africa with breaking news updates, analysis, opinions and more.",
"metaDescription": "",
"order": "0",
"pageId": null,
"articlesCount": null,
"allowComments": "1",
"accessType": "freecount",
"status": "1",
"children": [],
"cached": true
},
{
"id": "30",
"name": "Sport",
"signature": "Category:30",
"slug": "sport",
"typeId": {
"typeId": "1",
"name": "Daily Maverick",
"slug": "",
"includeInIssue": "0",
"shortened_domain": "",
"stylesheetClass": "",
"domain": "staging.dailymaverick.co.za",
"articleUrlPrefix": "",
"access_groups": "[]",
"locale": "",
"preview_limit": null
},
"parentId": null,
"parent": [],
"image": "",
"cover": "",
"logo": "",
"paid": "0",
"objectType": "Category",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/category/sport/",
"cssCode": "",
"template": "default",
"tagline": "",
"link_param": null,
"description": "",
"metaDescription": "",
"order": "0",
"pageId": null,
"articlesCount": null,
"allowComments": "1",
"accessType": "freecount",
"status": "1",
"children": [],
"cached": true
}
],
"content_length": 4473,
"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya’s (22-1) title clash with Jared Cannonier (15-5) headlines a stacked UFC 276 card in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski (24-1) defends his featherweight title against number one challenger Max Holloway (23-6) as the co-main event, which promises to be another bout expected to light up the T-Mobile Arena in Nevada.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Du Plessis, the former EFC (South Africa’s mixed martial arts competition), welterweight and middleweight champion, has only had two fights – winning both by knockout against Markus Perez (13-6) and Trevin Giles (14-4), respectively – since graduating to the UFC in 2020.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Du Plessis has been unlucky with injuries and opponent withdrawals during his two-year period in the UFC, but the 28-year-old still has big dreams for his mixed martial arts career.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I have the ultimate goal, which is to be the greatest fighter to ever walk the Earth. And to be able to do that, I have steps to follow,” Du Plessis told ESPN.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I want to be the kind of champion that gets that pound-for-pound number one spot, and holding that spot and doing so in spectacular fashion so that nobody can deny that I’m the greatest of all time.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Du Plessis is still some way off being a credible challenger to Israel Adesanya in the middleweight category. However, a victory over Tavares will bring him closer to becoming a ranked fighter and eventually competing for the title.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/gerrie-coetzee-press-conference-promoting-the-film-against-all-odds/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1310279\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1822907.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"748\" /></a> Dricus du Plessis, South Africa's world-famous Ultimate Fighting Championship athlete, during the Gerrie Coetzee Press Conference promoting the film Against all Odds at Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront on 26 January 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)</p>\r\n<h4><b>Going the distance</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bout against Tavares will be his first against a ranked opponent in UFC, after his fight against Kelvin Gastelum (17-8) in April at UFC 273 was cancelled when Gastelum withdrew due to an undisclosed injury.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Who gets an injury a week before a fight?” Du Plessis told <em>The MMA Hour</em> about Gastelum in April.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“What could you possibly be doing to get injured, and if he was injured, you don’t know what the camp was like, but why would he insist on having a new opponent when he had to pull out? So he wasn’t injured on Monday, because that’s [when] he insisted on the fight, and all of a sudden, he’s injured on Friday? That sounds very fishy to me.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Du Plessis, who holds a second-degree black belt in kickboxing, has been in continual training since his cancelled bout in April. Training at SanfordMMA in Florida, working with the likes of Michael Chandler and Kamaru Usman, to help prepare for his third UFC fight.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“If you don’t have that hunger, and you’re not willing to work to be the best, you will always be second, and nobody knows who second-best is,” said Du Plessis. </span>\r\n<h4><b>The UFC journey</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Du Plessis’s victories over Perez and Giles – in 2020 and 2021, respectively – vindicated his long-held belief that he belonged in the toughest mixed martial arts league in the world.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Getting my first two victories via knockout was absolutely amazing,” he told ESPN.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We always knew that I had power in my hands, especially at 185lbs. [It was great] to finally get those knockouts and see the hard work on the stand-up paying off.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Du Plessis believes the experienced 34-year-old Tavares will be his toughest fight to date – even tougher than his cancelled bout against 10th-ranked Gastelum would have been.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I think Brad Tavares is a much harder fight than Gastelum. I think Tavares is an extremely great athlete. He is tough as nails. He has great striking. He has very good takedown defence,” Du Plessis said.</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“He went the distance with Yoel Romero. He went the distance with Adesanya. He is such a tough fighter who can take punishment. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“My game plan is to go out there and finish Brad Tavares and do within three rounds what the champion [Adesanya] couldn’t do in five. And that should be making a good statement.” </span><b>DM</b>\r\n<h1><strong>UFC 276 – Main card</strong></h1>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Main event: Middleweight championship: Israel Adesanya vs Jared Cannonier</li>\r\n \t<li>Co-main: Featherweight championship: Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway</li>\r\n \t<li>Middleweight: Sean Strickland vs Alex Pereira</li>\r\n \t<li>Women’s Flyweight: Lauren Murphy vs Miesha Tate</li>\r\n \t<li>Bantamweight: Pedro Munhoz vs Sean O’Malley</li>\r\n \t<li>Brad Tavares vs Dricus du Plessis (early preliminary card)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nUFC 276 will be broadcasted on SuperSport from 4am on Sunday.",
"teaser": "South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis is ready for UFC 276 bout",
"externalUrl": "",
"sponsor": null,
"authors": [
{
"id": "245916",
"name": "Keanan Hemmonsbey",
"image": "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/IMG-20230509-WA0020-copy.jpg",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/author/keanan-hemmonsbey/",
"editorialName": "keanan-hemmonsbey",
"department": "",
"name_latin": ""
}
],
"description": "",
"keywords": [
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "14631",
"name": "Martial arts",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/martial-arts/",
"slug": "martial-arts",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Martial arts",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "54784",
"name": "Mixed martial arts",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/mixed-martial-arts/",
"slug": "mixed-martial-arts",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Mixed martial arts",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "379005",
"name": "UFC",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/ufc/",
"slug": "ufc",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "UFC",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "379006",
"name": "Dricus du Plessis",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/dricus-du-plessis/",
"slug": "dricus-du-plessis",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Dricus du Plessis",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "379007",
"name": "UFC 276",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/ufc-276/",
"slug": "ufc-276",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "UFC 276",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "379008",
"name": "Israel Adesanya",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/israel-adesanya/",
"slug": "israel-adesanya",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Israel Adesanya",
"translations": null
}
}
],
"short_summary": null,
"source": null,
"related": [],
"options": [],
"attachments": [
{
"id": "85523",
"name": "Dricus du Plessis, South Africa's world-famous Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) athlete during the Gerrie Coetzee Press Conference promoting the film Against all Odds at Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront on 26 January 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)",
"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya’s (22-1) title clash with Jared Cannonier (15-5) headlines a stacked UFC 276 card in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski (24-1) defends his featherweight title against number one challenger Max Holloway (23-6) as the co-main event, which promises to be another bout expected to light up the T-Mobile Arena in Nevada.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Du Plessis, the former EFC (South Africa’s mixed martial arts competition), welterweight and middleweight champion, has only had two fights – winning both by knockout against Markus Perez (13-6) and Trevin Giles (14-4), respectively – since graduating to the UFC in 2020.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Du Plessis has been unlucky with injuries and opponent withdrawals during his two-year period in the UFC, but the 28-year-old still has big dreams for his mixed martial arts career.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I have the ultimate goal, which is to be the greatest fighter to ever walk the Earth. And to be able to do that, I have steps to follow,” Du Plessis told ESPN.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I want to be the kind of champion that gets that pound-for-pound number one spot, and holding that spot and doing so in spectacular fashion so that nobody can deny that I’m the greatest of all time.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Du Plessis is still some way off being a credible challenger to Israel Adesanya in the middleweight category. However, a victory over Tavares will bring him closer to becoming a ranked fighter and eventually competing for the title.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1310279\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"720\"]<a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/gerrie-coetzee-press-conference-promoting-the-film-against-all-odds/\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1310279\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1822907.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"748\" /></a> Dricus du Plessis, South Africa's world-famous Ultimate Fighting Championship athlete, during the Gerrie Coetzee Press Conference promoting the film Against all Odds at Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront on 26 January 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)[/caption]\r\n<h4><b>Going the distance</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bout against Tavares will be his first against a ranked opponent in UFC, after his fight against Kelvin Gastelum (17-8) in April at UFC 273 was cancelled when Gastelum withdrew due to an undisclosed injury.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Who gets an injury a week before a fight?” Du Plessis told <em>The MMA Hour</em> about Gastelum in April.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“What could you possibly be doing to get injured, and if he was injured, you don’t know what the camp was like, but why would he insist on having a new opponent when he had to pull out? So he wasn’t injured on Monday, because that’s [when] he insisted on the fight, and all of a sudden, he’s injured on Friday? That sounds very fishy to me.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Du Plessis, who holds a second-degree black belt in kickboxing, has been in continual training since his cancelled bout in April. Training at SanfordMMA in Florida, working with the likes of Michael Chandler and Kamaru Usman, to help prepare for his third UFC fight.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“If you don’t have that hunger, and you’re not willing to work to be the best, you will always be second, and nobody knows who second-best is,” said Du Plessis. </span>\r\n<h4><b>The UFC journey</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Du Plessis’s victories over Perez and Giles – in 2020 and 2021, respectively – vindicated his long-held belief that he belonged in the toughest mixed martial arts league in the world.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Getting my first two victories via knockout was absolutely amazing,” he told ESPN.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We always knew that I had power in my hands, especially at 185lbs. [It was great] to finally get those knockouts and see the hard work on the stand-up paying off.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Du Plessis believes the experienced 34-year-old Tavares will be his toughest fight to date – even tougher than his cancelled bout against 10th-ranked Gastelum would have been.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I think Brad Tavares is a much harder fight than Gastelum. I think Tavares is an extremely great athlete. He is tough as nails. He has great striking. He has very good takedown defence,” Du Plessis said.</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“He went the distance with Yoel Romero. He went the distance with Adesanya. He is such a tough fighter who can take punishment. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“My game plan is to go out there and finish Brad Tavares and do within three rounds what the champion [Adesanya] couldn’t do in five. And that should be making a good statement.” </span><b>DM</b>\r\n<h1><strong>UFC 276 – Main card</strong></h1>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Main event: Middleweight championship: Israel Adesanya vs Jared Cannonier</li>\r\n \t<li>Co-main: Featherweight championship: Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway</li>\r\n \t<li>Middleweight: Sean Strickland vs Alex Pereira</li>\r\n \t<li>Women’s Flyweight: Lauren Murphy vs Miesha Tate</li>\r\n \t<li>Bantamweight: Pedro Munhoz vs Sean O’Malley</li>\r\n \t<li>Brad Tavares vs Dricus du Plessis (early preliminary card)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nUFC 276 will be broadcasted on SuperSport from 4am on Sunday.",
"focal": "50% 50%",
"width": 0,
"height": 0,
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg",
"transforms": [
{
"x": "200",
"y": "100",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/SYMiOCDZDMA9MUHLwf4RsmOGHDo=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg"
},
{
"x": "450",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/tjqaVkDcG5iHcfv-jQZCa4NUyno=/450x0/smart/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg"
},
{
"x": "800",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/R2bI3y-glRgwKPaFoWHTwTOP3i8=/800x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg"
},
{
"x": "1200",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/1-EZygBU7IDl38KlaYhcmdRDi74=/1200x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg"
},
{
"x": "1600",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/5Kt16cA8vFRq2e9efdd7LAv-z0s=/1600x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg"
}
],
"url_thumbnail": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/SYMiOCDZDMA9MUHLwf4RsmOGHDo=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg",
"url_medium": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/tjqaVkDcG5iHcfv-jQZCa4NUyno=/450x0/smart/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg",
"url_large": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/R2bI3y-glRgwKPaFoWHTwTOP3i8=/800x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg",
"url_xl": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/1-EZygBU7IDl38KlaYhcmdRDi74=/1200x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg",
"url_xxl": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/5Kt16cA8vFRq2e9efdd7LAv-z0s=/1600x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TL_1688233.jpg",
"type": "image"
}
],
"summary": "Dricus ‘Stillknocks’ du Plessis (16-2) will be flying the South African flag high early on Sunday when he takes on America’s Brad Tavares (19-7) in a middleweight clash in the UFC 276 undercard.\r\n",
"template_type": null,
"dm_custom_section_label": null,
"elements": [],
"seo": {
"search_title": "South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis is ready for UFC 276 bout",
"search_description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya’s (22-1) title clash with Jared Cannonier (15-5) headlines a stacked UFC 276 card in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.</span>\r\n\r\n<span ",
"social_title": "South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis is ready for UFC 276 bout",
"social_description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya’s (22-1) title clash with Jared Cannonier (15-5) headlines a stacked UFC 276 card in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.</span>\r\n\r\n<span ",
"social_image": ""
},
"cached": true,
"access_allowed": true
} 
Dricus du Plessis, South Africa's world-famous Ultimate Fighting Championship athlete, during the Gerrie Coetzee Press Conference promoting the film Against all Odds at Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront on 26 January 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)