Dricus du Plessis

Du Plessis is an Afrikaner and speaks English and Afrikaans fluently. He grew up playing rugby throughout his school years and remains an outspoken supporter of the South African national rugby team, the Springboks.

He got engaged to Vasti Spiller on 14 January 2025. Outside of competition, he appeared as the character Wildebeest on the television series The Masked Singer South Africa in 2024.

In April 2023, du Plessis underwent surgery to repair a chronic nasal blockage. His head coach, Morne Visser, stated that structural obstruction had limited du Plessis to approximately 8% airflow through his nostrils across his early UFC appearances.

Du Plessis started judo at age five. He added wrestling at twelve and took up K-1 kickboxing at fourteen. As an amateur kickboxer, he went 33-0 with 30 knockout victories. In 2012, he won a gold medal at the WAKO Junior World Championships in Bratislava.

He studied agricultural economics at the University of Pretoria. He left during his final year to pursue mixed martial arts full time. He made his professional debut in July 2013 in South Africa's Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC).

Du Plessis captured the EFC welterweight belt in 2016 by submitting Martin van Staden. In 2017, he submitted Yannick Bahati to claim the EFC middleweight title and become a simultaneous two-division champion. He then signed with Poland's KSW promotion in 2018, where he stopped Roberto Soldić with a left hook to win the KSW Welterweight Championship.

Du Plessis made his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 179 in October 2020. He knocked out Markus Perez in the first round. A second-round knockout of Trevin Giles at UFC 264 earned him his first Performance of the Night bonus.

He climbed the middleweight rankings across 2022 and 2023. He outpointed Brad Tavares, submitted Darren Till, and stopped Derek Brunson when Brunson's corner threw in the towel. At UFC 290 in July 2023, du Plessis faced former champion Robert Whittaker in a title eliminator. He stopped Whittaker with punches in the second round, securing a title shot.

Du Plessis challenged Sean Strickland for the middleweight title at UFC 297 in Toronto. He won a five-round split decision to take the belt. The victory made him South Africa's first undisputed UFC champion.

His first defense came at UFC 305 in Perth against former two-time champion Israel Adesanya. Du Plessis forced Adesanya to tap to a fourth-round face crank, handing Adesanya the first submission defeat of his career. Du Plessis then rematched Strickland at UFC 312 in Sydney, retaining his belt via unanimous decision.

His championship reign ended at UFC 319 when he lost a unanimous decision to Khamzat Chimaev. He returned to competition in July 2026, defeating former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman by unanimous decision in a five-round headliner.

Du Plessis fights out of Team CIT MMA in Hatfield, Pretoria, under longtime head coach Morne Visser. He operates primarily from an orthodox stance but shifts stances while executing high-volume combinations.

His style relies on heavy physical pressure, durability, and sudden level changes. While commentators often call his movement awkward, du Plessis has defended his striking mechanics as functional and disruptive to rhythmic counter-strikers.