Former middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis has defeated three former titleholders including Sean Strickland twice. He holds wins over Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya and successfully defended the championship twice during his title reign.
“Stillknocks” has shared the octagon with the best 185-pound fighters of his era but one stood above the rest when it came to skillset.
“The best guy for me that I’ve fought, obviously the Khamzat [Chimaev] fight was one that I lost pretty significantly, but that wasn’t a fight. I mean, so taking that one. That’s an obvious answer. So, let’s take that one out of the equation. Adesanya was the best guy that I faced just in terms of everything he did, man,” Du Plessis told Fight Forecast.
“His timing, the speed, the power he kicks with, even takedown defense-wise, everything. He was the best technical guy that I’ve ever faced.”
While “The Last Stylebender” was the best fighter Du Plessis has faced, he wasn’t the toughest. That distinction went to two other previous opponents.
“The toughest guy has to be Brad Tavares or Sean Strickland. It has to be. I mean, just in terms of the amount of shots they took and just kept standing,” said Du Plessis.
“I mean, Strickland more so takes the punches but rolls with it. Tavares took some solid shots and he just kept standing. So, it’s between the two of those.”
