Kamaru Usman recollects sparring 'not the sharpest' Dricus Du Plessis and talks about the improvements he's made
19/08/2024 16:52
Dricus Du Plessis is widely regarded as one of the sloppiest UFC champions, a notion that is shared by former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman who has recollected sparring the current middleweight king.
This past Saturday at UFC 305, Dricus Du Plessis successfully defended his middleweight title in a huge grudge match against Israel Adesanya, finally settling a rivalry that has gone on for years.
The South African champion sunk in a rear-naked choke in round four of their main event, after the first three rounds were relatively closely contested, with Adesanya seemingly coming into his own from round three.
Kamaru Usman details sparring ‘not the sharpest’ Dricus Du Plessis
Although ‘Stillknocks’ was two rounds up on two of the judges’ scorecards heading into round four, the 30-year-old wasn’t doing the cleanest of work, and Adesanya was seemingly finding his rhythm with strong body work.
Despite that, it has come to be known that although Du Plessis isn’t the most technically sound champion the UFC has ever seen, he is somehow extremely effective.
Former UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman – a longtime friend of Adesanya – has commented on Du Plessis’ performance in Perth.
“You have to give credit where credit is due. With Dricus Du Plessis, there are moments in there where he really showed he’s mixed martial arts savvy,” Usman began to explain on the latest Pound 4 Pound Podcast episode.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ also recalled sparring Du Plessis a few years back, stating he’s not the ‘sharpest’ or ‘cleanest’ fighter he’s seen.
“He’s not the sharpest, he’s not the cleanest but there’s just got to be power. It’s been a few years but I sparred him way back in the day and I don’t remember (him being that powerful).
“I always knew he hit hard, he swings hard but now I feel like he’s confident in his power to where if you really watch him, when he throws those big shots both legs aren’t on the ground. This guy must have some power (now) because both legs aren’t planted on the ground, he’s almost leaping into the shots.
“What really did it for me is his all-around savviness in the game because if you see him the times where he gets the takedown he instantly advances to the next dominant position,” Usman continued.
Usman erupts after Cejudo tells him Du Plessis is the ‘King of Africa’ now
The reason why there was such a big feud between Du Plessis and Adesanya was because the Sout African historically claimed that he would become the first true African champion, despite Adesanya, Usman, and Francis Ngannou holding titles at the time.
After the 37-year-old credited ‘Stillknocks’ for his performance and mentioned how he deserves respect as the middleweight champion, his co-host, Henry Cejudo claimed that he is also now the ‘King of Africa’, which didn’t sit well with Usman.
“Explain, why would you say that?” Usman asked the former UFC two-weight world champion.
Cejudo went on to defend Du Plessis, explaining that the whole feud began from Dricus’ comments and that Cejudo understood the notion behind his claim of becoming the ‘true African champion’.
“I saw the debate (between Adesanya and Du Plessis) to me it was a little untasteful, not a little, very untasteful. Was Israel born in Africa? Yes. Was he raised in Africa? Yes… We can try to not say race all we want to but if there’s anything that we know in America right now, the color of your skin does play a part.
“Dricus is the fourth African champion, so there are four horsemen, so we’ve moved on from the three kings to now where there are four horsemen so to continue to perpetuate this ‘African king’ or this or that, that’s ridiculous,” Usman flamed Cejudo.
