New middleweight champion, Dricus du Plessis spoke to the press after his main event victory at UFC 297. All OFFICIAL UFC 297 …
hello hello hello good night morning anybody up for some breakfast uh first of all congratulations on the win um great fight uh talk to us about the emotions of actually having that belt in front of you winning the world title and becoming Champion wow I mean let’s just talk about the emotions I felt when we started hearing one judge one judge and now I go because I honestly thought I did enough until they but it was a close fight I’d make no mistake but I thought I had it and then when that Split Decision came I just went okay this is 100% 50/50 and when they said and knew it was it felt like 15 years of work of dreaming of sacrificing of everything came together in one single sentence it was it’s incredible it feels surreal it’s it’s amazing the fight itself right it was very close you know some people are going to have it for him some are going to have it for you you are satisfied with your performance and you do feel like you did enough to win the fight yeah I thought I did enough to win the fight um it was definitely a close fight I definitely gave him the first round and I made the necessary adjustments to um you know in the fifth round I we didn’t give him the round I thought thought at the end I don’t know how they scored it to be honest um listen it was a close fight I’m not going to lie it was one of those fights where there wasn’t even time to really think of what is happening but I do believe with the takedowns that I got it was very back and forth with the Striking um one for him one for me and uh I try to um stay ahead with the takedowns by round four and five he did a good job of Defending those but obviously my takedowns got a bit slop and he he started you know reading them but those takedowns weren’t really for getting a takedown they were more to disrupt his game plan but at the end of the day I went toe-to-toe with the well self-proclaimed and some people think best boxer in the UFC yeah I want to talk about his boxing right everyone knows that he’s a good boxer but when you’re in there and you’re dealing with that jab especially in the earlier part of the fight you was thinking to yourself oh yeah he is as good as they say yeah yeah no listen he is good he’s definitely good uh he caught me the first round um with the jab and then I realized I can’t let him get away with that jab cuz my game plan was obviously first two rounds our plan was 100% to fight his fight not to go out and fight the way that I fight you’ll see how the fight changed from the third round I I went more to my style but that was our game plan for the first two rounds he Jabs I jab one two nothing serious and then from round number three we start turning it up and uh obviously I had a lot of people to prove wrong with my gas tank and I believe I did that tonight you called for Israel after the fight I mean there’s been a lot of talk about how the the result of this fight might have effects on UFC 300 I mean I can see your face you’re wearing a little bit of damage do you think you could turn around that quick and if not is Israel still the guy that you’d like to fight a little bit of damage do do you remember how handsome I was before this fight I look like a cauliflower now but uh yeah I mean I’m pretty banged up right now I don’t feel like listen I’m I’m up for another round if they want to go um right now but yeah I don’t want to put a timeline on it but usually 300 sound’s amazing and just to be for the last one Israel out is the guy you want right there’s still some personal issues there that you’d like to resolve and you think that sort of fight is the one that’s perfect for your first title defense oh no it’s nothing personal it’s not personal at all that’s just the fight the fans want to see uh I want to fight the best competition there’s a lot of guys are going to be fighting but the fans want to see Israel desna versus you know there’s a lot of hype that was already built on it if the fans go if there’s some way they start tracking and saying listen the fans don’t really want to see adna versus DC we don’t do that fight makes it’s fine to me I have I don’t care who it is but that is a fight on top of my head that I think the people want to see and that’s going to you know get a lot of people excited right here uh Sean just TW tweeted saying that uh he was referencing a headbutt in the fight made it difficult to see but he did give you congratulations and props on the fight did you notice any headbutt in there from either you or him no no no no I can’t say that I had I can’t say that I did it’s the first I’m hearing of it now I didn’t feel a hit butt did he say I hit butted him he said uh this is him saying he said well man that headbut really made it difficult to see but I thought we got it we I thought we got the job job done onto the next one no I can’t remember any head butt Danel was in here and when we asked him about you know South African Champion uh bringing the UFC to South Africa he said absolutely seemed pretty adamant about it so are you going to kind of get in his ear now that you have the belt like it’s now or never essentially yeah it’s going to be now for a long time but um yeah I think it’s time I think we’ve worked our asses off to get this uh event to to Africa and South Africa and it’s time that happened just so for the record is there some people that think I lost the fight Dana said it well uh kind of going off of the South AF talk what went through your mind when you saw the the crowd they showed it in the arena on the the big screen the fans in South Africa watching your fight and cheering when you got the belt yeah that was that was absolutely incredible um you know there’s one thing about South Africa that I think uh if the USC goes there and the whole world is going to see you have never fou the vibe when it comes to sport like South Africa and last one for me what do you want your title rign to be because lately we see these Champions they they get one or two defenses and they start talking about going up uh the middleweight division right now is pretty wide open with contenders that haven’t fought for the belt or fought you do you want to you know go after these title defense records do you want double champ status what do you ultimately want your Reign to be yeah listen I definitely I want to do what is expected because is do I want double champ status absolutely but I’m willing toh to earn that if there’s contenders that make sense I don’t want to fight my um contenders that doesn’t make sense you know fighting isra desna makes sense fighting guys that deserve the title shots make sense but I don’t want to just fight somebody because I don’t want to be Israel the that fought John Strickland yeah Strickland won that fight but they should have never never fought in my opinion when you say uh contenders that don’t make sense do you mean Fighters like hamzat who maybe haven’t fought a middleweight ranks because he’s also tweeting like see you soon and referencing UFC 300 yeah but he said that to Jon Jon so I mean who takes that guy seriously anyway dck is over here um beyond the the facial injuries are there any other injuries you’re dealing with um yeah I mean the body feels pretty banged up right now but I can’t say for sure how severe these injuries are you were having a lot of success with the the kicks throughout the fight was that something that you saw going into this that would be a key part of your strategy or was that something that just became available throughout the fight and you saw the success and kept with it yeah no no this is something we worked uh we um we saw in all of his fights he’s really good at evading these kicks um we saw with isra desna he wasn’t very successful with his kicks because of Sean’s do defense I got a few good head kicks in I got a few good low kicks in um it was just a timing that we um we had figured out a little bit better than than um Izzy did in that fight um but yeah anytime you’re going to fight a guy with a strong and good jab um I thought you know my coaches um Coach man he he’s obviously a genius when it comes to these things we looked at the fight and said that’s how we’re going to take care of jab and those kicks did start to hurt him by round number three 100% And His jab became a lot lighter in that third round definitely you also answered a lot of questions going into the the fourth and fifth rounds for the first time in your career can you just tell us especially that going into the fifth round sort of what your corner is telling you and mentally are you just on autopilot at that point like take us through your emotions just preparing for those final five minutes no not at all I mean I went into the fth round and I said to my g wow can you believe it I guess I have a gas tank and um he said this is the last 15 minutes of your life and I said damn straight and um you know we basically I was I was happy to be there in that fifth round it wasn’t auto pilot at all it was damn I feel great for a fifth round when we went to the fourth round I felt damn I’m going to prove a lot of people wrong tonight D is right here um at what point in the fight do you think you kind of had Sean’s game plan and and what he brought to the fight figured out um it seemed like in the first round was kind of establishing the jabin and whatnot but the commentary mentioned that by around maybe the end of the second he really started to get a bit closer him and started Landing more punches and that continued for the rest of the fight where do you sort of think you figured him out yeah exactly that I think um the first two rounds we spent and no was our plan to fight his fight to see where it is obviously keep him on the back foot it was it’s a lot easier said than then to keep him on the back foot because he comes forward and um he has a very strong how can I say his March he doesn’t storm forward but he has a strong March he the way he moves it makes it hard to push him backwards but I just kept on putting the pressure on Sha every time he jabed moving forward moving forward yeah I took a couple of bunches more than I would have liked but keeping um him every time he hits I move in I move forward and um you know even him being the CIO machine that he is by the Third round you can’t keep on fighting with that kind of pressure he got tired and that’s where I really started Landing more and more I think it was in rounds two or three when your eye started really swelling up um obviously you can I think you can see out of it but was there any issue visibility issues and was there a concern in the corner that it could get worse yeah I mean uh good us to to to the uh to the cutman on that uh he hit me with a jab in the first I didn’t feel it really I could feel he got me and um all of a sudden I just felt this thing in my eye but it didn’t hurt and his his Corner screamed and said he’s already bleeding and I thought am I am I really bleeding and then in the second he caught me with on this eye again I think and all of the sudden this eye went completely shut like I couldn’t see and I was like ah come on one eye and that was the first time for me in a fight where my eye was completely shut for a while like I couldn’t see and um then I went to back to the corner they put the ice thing on it and uh the swelling went down immediately so good said to the cutman it helped a lot and then I I cut him we spoke about it in the doctor’s rooms and I caught him with a big punch and his eyes started bleeding and I looked at the blood flowing and I said oh I hope that goes into his eyes and he said and I look at him and I’m like that has to be in your eyes come on and he went like this and I said gotcha and he tried not to he said he tried not to wipe so I can’t see it in his eyes but then he started wiping and I was like yeah well the now we’re level now we’re level and I started yeah so I mean but all in all I mean Sean s is an absolute Warrior and will respect for him what’s the biggest Improvement you think you’ve made over the past 13 or so months and the reason I say 13 is that dates back to your fight with Darren till and that was a a tough back and forth fight you got to win but it was not a not an easy one um and now you’re not knocking out Robert wher you’re beating Sean Strickland for the title what changed yeah nothing changed I just got my ring time I just got my octagon time and um settled settled found a home in the UFC like I said that’s what I need found a home we we had some problems um in terms of the conditioning which we fixed I feel incredible I think it’s just about finding your feet in that octagon and accepting and believing that you’re one of the best in the world I know you would have liked an early finish in the fight obviously you don’t get paid by the hour but were you kind of happy as well to go the distance to kind of Silence some of those critics that were saying cardio was going to be an issue in this fight yeah I mean that was a good that’s a that’s a big plus point for the fact that we win five rounds is the fact that I could uh hopefully my cardio is uh um the discussion of the past if not keep on doubting I don’t care um at your own demise of course but you know if I’m going to do a decision like with the Brad ofar fight I said if I have to go to a decision and i’ have to do it this way any day of the week I mean I haven’t watched the fight but we got fir tonight and um it sounded like it was a banger and in that case I’m more than happy to go to distance how big of a boost was it your teammate won last night it unified uh you know and that story in itself was kind of crazy with him coming to torona with you getting the phone call getting the fight and get getting a pretty big win there um how much should that kind of give you a little bit boost going into to the title fight tonight yeah I mean I’m really happy for Mary Mar uh uh Mar I honestly think he’s the next guy to come in you know he didn’t get to finish last night but you know it was a what 10day notice fight for him uh he did what he had to to win that fight so I’m really happy for him and hopefully he gets opportunity soon and uh you know to to be here presenting my team team CIT in Petoria you know um it’s it’s a so many people are looking up to me and going if he’s there I train with him I can do that and that means the will to me and just last one for me um the crowd was chanting DDP I know earlier in the week uh you know they’re kind of pro strickling but how was your overall experience in Toronto it really seemed like you won the fans over with that performance tonight yeah I love Toronto I have to say it is it’s amazing I’m staying a couple of days extra um but yeah I mean Toronto uh this whole week I said they may they might not be fans of me but I kind of like it here Jus right up front here just to sort of follow up on that question could you sense during the fight that the support was changing a little because I I could tell you we it seemed very Pro Strickland at first and was till the end as well but then your cheering section got super loud could you sense that while you were fighting yeah yeah no I heard it when they started dedp DB I was like oh man these guys ain’t loyal uh if the USC were to go to South Africa uh would it have to be Johannesburg or Cape Town is there another city I’m just neglecting to mention would no yeah well it probably be Johannesburg c toown one of those but I mean there’s a lot of great places UFC can go in South Africa and um there’s been a lot of great athletes to come out of your country where do you feel this ranks you among the best athletes that South Africa’s ever produced that’s a very very hard question um right now one of the best and like uh I plan on being I want to be known as the greatest ever trus right here I know you had mentioned a little bit ago maybe the possibility of the future of being a double Champion that’s an aspiration and a goal uh the light heavyweight champion Alex PR was in Sea’s Corner tonight and that news seem seemed to come out like a couple hours before the fight did you notice him there when you I guess were waiting for Shawn to come out and what did you think of Alex cornering Shawn tonight no no no I didn’t notice him uh at all until I saw him in the cage after the fight and um yeah well whatever are you a little surprised that he would you know jump in there and do that yeah no no I’m not I mean take all the help you can get man thank you dck is just looking back quickly on sort of how you got here how cool is it it’s a bit Niche but is it cool to be the only fighter who’s ever won titles in EFC ksw and now the UFC yeah that’s pretty amazing um you know to go out and say every single organization I’ve ever fought in I’ve been a champion is is that’s great I mean it’s a it shows consistency over whole career it shows consistency over my career since I’m since the age of 19 I’ve always had the aspiration no matter where I am no matter where I fight to be the best uh Keith With Your autta Life Magazine congratulations on the win and realizing your dream um what is the next week going to look like for you in terms of like the celebration geez I don’t know I’ll probably go yeah I’m going to drink a lot of beer that’s about it that’s how much I can answer you I’m it’s going to be um I’m going to be in in Canada and enjoy the food scene definitely eat a lot um enjoy the Super Bowl Sunday um or is it is it now it’s it’s Sunday it’s tomorrow right like three weeks no no no but uh I mean it’s the playoffs now right yeah that that that thing I don’t we don’t have a football in South Africa so but I know when they play it’s amazing the vibe is awesome and well basically any any um situation where I can drink beer it’s going to be great so there’s going to be a party and um the food scene in Toronto looks amazing so I’m going to taste that out and then we going to South Africa and then the real party starts nice and a very touching moment in the Octagon after with your with your family I was wondering if you could touch on that because you spoke about bringing about a hundred or so people over for the for the fight and obviously it turned out the way that you wanted and it was wonderful seeing you with your uh with your family inside the Octagon after can you uh encapsulate what that moment meant for you yeah absolutely incredible me I have my mom and dad then you know both my brothers in my corner meant the absolute world my dad you know my first amateur World title I fought for a K1 World title in um in Slovakia when I was 18 years old and that’s for South African that was also unheard of but impossible they said it won’t happen even South Africa uh the coaches in South Africa said that’s not happening uh because we just don’t compete at the level that these guys do and uh I made it happen I became a junior world champion and uh I promised my dad that one day I will give him the USC World CH World title I promise that him to be able to see how proud my dad is of me and all the support and love that my mom and dad has been giving me my whole life my whole career and they supported this they wanted this just as bad as I did and to be able to give them this Bel means the absolute world you getting a parade uh I don’t know I’ll see that’ll be nice I would like a parade thank you so much guys I appreciate all of you thank you