‘Burning fire’ drives Du Plessis to beat Adesanya at UFC 305

South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis takes on Nigerian-New Zealander Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 on August 17/18 [depending on where you are in the world]. ‘Stillknocks’, the current middleweight champion, spoke to ESPN about his gym in Pretoria, his love for his country, and why he is Africa’s champ.

PRETORIA — When South Africa’s Dricus ‘Stillknocks’ du Plessis was awarded the UFC middleweight belt in January, beating Sean Strickland in a split decision, his first request was: ‘Bring me my flag’.

Grabbing the Rainbow Nation’s colours was a moment of symbolic significance for his gym, CIT Performance Institute in Pretoria, which he co-owns with longtime friends and training partners Claudia and JT Botha, and all the work they’re doing to grow the sport at home.

Stillknocks, sitting on a box jump cube, post-workout, told ESPN: “The flag represents to me that this is not just my title – this is the country’s title – the flag represents the amazing support I’ve been getting, and we’ve been getting.

“Because without these incredible fans, we don’t have a job — we don’t have a sport. Every time you get to a fourth or fifth round, your own personal goals and ego are not carrying you anymore.

“It’s that burning fire, that [national rugby team the Springboks] Bok fire — the flag that you’re representing on the biggest stage in the world. Those are the kind of things that pull you through — when you are tired, when you are hurt, when you don’t want to continue — that make you refuse to give up.

“That’s exactly what our flag represents to me.”

They already have two fighters who have made waves in the UFC over the last two years – Du Plessis and Cameron Saaiman. More are waiting in the wings — notably Nkazimulo ‘King Shaka’ Zulu and Mark Hulme.

While it is currently based in the nation’s capital, CIT plans to expand throughout the country and build a martial arts dynasty.

He added: “CIT is going to be expanding within the next year. It’s obviously not something you can just do. [You have to] make sure everything is in order legislation-wise to expand to Cape Town, expand to all these places, and find these talented fighters, of course, and give them the opportunity.”

How to watch or stream UFC 305: Du Plessis vs. Adesanya

Being South African and conscious of the country’s, and continent’s, financial and social disparities, Du Plessis says they have assistance in place for fighters who may not be able to afford regular gym fees but have the talent to develop.

He added: “We welcome everyone here. Of course, in terms of finances, I know it’s not possible for everyone and, as far as it’s possible, we’re doing everything that we can to try set up the process of helping people that want to do this and are willing to put in the work but don’t have the financial capability of being here.

“We are doing what we can as a team to make that happen and working with other entities to try because all these things unfortunately cost money. As a team, we try to accommodate everybody at CIT.

“Of course, it is a business at the end of the day, but we do understand the social responsibility of developing young talent – developing people that don’t necessarily have the means to be a client but have the talent and the work ethic to be a fighter.”

Seeing into The Future

Du Plessis started his professional career 11 years ago at CIT, which at the time had a professional team only and wasn’t open to the public. He saw a gap in the market and bought it, then converted it into a commercial gym, with a professional team alongside paying customers looking for martial arts training.

As he secured a sponsorship deal two years into his professional career, one of the obligations that came with it was coaching a talented teenage prospect by the name of Cameron Saaiman. Initially, du Plessis was not keen.

Dricus, as he’s casually referred to in South Africa… like Cher or Prince, said: “Coaching Cami – it was a big team sponsor so it was more of an obligation. I think I was 21 years old when we started working together, so that’s nine years ago.

“One of the obligations was to coach this kid that was doing kickboxing and loved MMA. I was the youngest in the team then. I coached him twice a week and I wasn’t really keen on that at the time because I was still studying at the time and I was fighting as a profession.

“I started coaching Cami and the first time I rocked up at the gym and I had to coach him, I was really not keen on this because it took a lot of time out of my day. I didn’t have time. I had to study or I wanted to rest or whatever the case may have been.

“I showed him a couple of things, he did it, and I thought: ‘Wow. This kid is talented.’ I didn’t think too much of it. I told him what he should work on. That was maybe a Tuesday. On the Thursday, two days later, he comes back for the next session.

“Everything I told him to work on, he worked on it and he did it perfectly, and that’s when everything changed and I saw: ‘This kid is amazing.'”

He added of his protege: “I saw in his eyes the same look that I could see in my own when I started the sport – just the love that he had for it and the pure desire to be the best and to get better every single day.

“My whole perspective changed and I think we even added some more sessions because I saw a passion in him that I knew I had in myself and it was very weird to see that.”

Du Plessis had come to the same conclusion that Dana White would eventually reach in 2022 – that Saaiman was “the future” of the bantamweight division.

Saaiman is currently finding his feet again after his first two defeats, but at 23 years old with a 9-2 record in MMA, including 3-2 in the UFC, he has pedigree and time on his side as he looks to bounce back.

Saaiman told ESPN about Du Plessis’s mentorship: “He’s been amazing. I’ve known him since I was 14 years old, so getting to learn from him when we talk about work ethic – which we do a lot – there’s one person that always comes to mind and that’s Dricus.

“He works unbelievably hard for what he wants and I think everyone in the gym takes a lot of inspiration in that.

“In the good and the bad, you’re going to always turn to him for leadership and for advice and whatever all the other athletes go through, he’s probably gone through a few times.”

Indeed, du Plessis’ road to the top has had its bumps. Before he entered the UFC, he suffered defeats in championship fights to Garreth McLellan (2014 in the EFC middleweight division) and Roberto Soldić (2018 in the KSW welterweight).

“I think the Soldić loss didn’t expose any holes… It exposed that I wasn’t supposed to be at welterweight and it exposed the fact that there’s no chance for a lack of concentration because I got beat on a night there’s no excuse for why. It was the fight game. I lost concentration and I got beat,” du Plessis said.

“That just shows you that if you want to be at the top level for the duration of a fight, there’s no lapse of concentration. Of course, my first loss, I realised, ‘You think you’re working hard? You can do a lot more.’

“I was never not dedicated; I just didn’t know what it took. I was young – I was 20 years old. After that loss, I realised what it takes to be the best in the world and that paid off.”

The most difficult phase of du Plessis’ career, however, came when he was winning fights, but not getting the recognition he felt he deserved from the UFC.

He said: “There was never a moment I thought it wouldn’t be possible [to become a UFC champion]. [But] there were times that I doubted; there were times that I was four years or five years in – I had three different world titles outside of the UFC [in] two weight divisions. I was just winning and I just wasn’t seen by the UFC.

“I thought: ‘How is this possible? I’ve done everything in the criteria – all finishes. Having 13 fights with 12 performance bonuses and a fight of the night, submission of the night, knockout of the night, performance of the night and I’m not getting the call?’

“It was demotivating in a sense that it only played with my mind, but I never, ever stopped believing I’d be the world champion – not once.”

Du Plessis finally made his UFC Fight Night debut in 2020 at the age of 26 and has not looked back since. He beat Markus Perez at UFC Fight Night, then Trevin Giles, Brad Tavares, Darren Till, Derek Brunson, Robert Whittaker and finally Strickland on his way to clinching the belt.

His name has become known around the world for his performances in the octagon and his outspokenness outside of it, over his belief that he and Saaiman deserve to be known as the UFC’s true African fighters, given that they train in Africa.

This, of course, irked the likes of Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya, who along with Francis Ngannou and Du Plessis are the four African-born UFC champions.

“Did those belts ever go to Africa? As far as I know, they came to America and New Zealand. I’m going to take a belt to Africa,” he said ahead of his bout against Strickland at a media day, of titles won by Francis Ngannou, Kamaru Usman and Adesanya.

“I’m the African fighter in the UFC. Myself and Cameron; we breathe African air. We wake up in Africa every day. We train in Africa, we’re African born, we’re African raised. We still reside in Africa, we train out of Africa. That’s an African champion, and that’s who I’ll be.”

Du Plessis stands by his words a year later, telling ESPN: “That wasn’t a jab. That was facts. I stated facts.

“I wanted to make history as the first African-born, trained and residing champion and I did. That was exactly what I wanted to accomplish — saying that I wanted to make history, and I made history.”

Du Plessis and Adesanya will have their opportunity to settle their differences in the octagon at UFC 305 in Perth on August 18, with the main card scheduled for 10AM local time (4AM CAT).

No fighter can win without their team

CIT head coach Morne Visser, an enigmatic figure who owns a car dealership across the road from the performance institute, has been one of the key masterminds behind the rise of Du Plessis.

Stillknocks acknowledged: “Coach Morné is the godfather here at CIT. He’s been my only coach as a mixed martial artist. Of course, we have our grappling coach, Niel Geyser, who is incredible. He’s a third degree black belt jiu-jitsu coach. We have our team manager, Hennie [Engelbrecht].

“Coach Morné brings everything together. We work together on the gameplan. He has such a beautiful mind when it comes to the sport.

“He’s not everybody’s type of coach; let me tell you that. You need to be able to take a lot when you train with him. He’s going to push you to breaking point and that’s why he makes champions.

“I think he’s one of the best coaches in the world. He’s proven that – he’s made all of that happen.

“Without a team, without our team manager, Hennie Engelbrecht – the things these guys need to make happen; it’s like sapping water from a rock – they are doing incredible work and without them, we wouldn’t be here today.”

It was Visser who took the blame – or credit – for pulling du Plessis out of a potential fight with Adesanya last year while he recovered from injury, citing what he viewed as a past mistake rushing his fighter into action against Roberto Soldić, in what was ultimately his second defeat.

Visser wrote on Instagram in September: “I was the one who decided before and after the Whittaker fight that Dricus will NOT fight Izzy before he can kick and do a full fight camp without any injuries.

“Dricus literally begged me to take the fight, I said no! It’s Izzy we are talking about. Fighting him for the UFC Middleweight belt, you’ll need all your moving parts to work 100%.”

Pulling du Plessis out of the fight may not have been a popular decision then, but it ultimately paid off as he went on to beat Strickland for the middleweight title.

Confirming Visser’s version of events, Du Plessis added: “Going into the Whittaker fight, I wasn’t really fit. I was over training weight, starting camp injured, and I said: ‘Coach, let’s do it.’

“He said: ‘No, there’s no way. We’re learning from our previous mistakes and we are not doing this. Whatever should happen will happen.’ It worked out for the best – here we are now again.

“Obviously, UFC 300 was something I wanted to do. I knew it was a possibility, but it’s not my fault. If you look at the Strickland fight, anybody who knows anything about fighting knows that was a hard fight. We both took a beating…

“To me, it was a no-brainer. I was champion and unfortunately, I’d have loved to be part of UFC 300 – especially being the main event – but this is the fight game. A lot of stuff happens that’s out of your control.”

While du Plessis is now one of the biggest names in MMA and Saaiman is following in his footsteps, there are many people behind the scenes who have maintained a lower profile, but been integral to CIT’s success.

In February 2023, Claudia and JT Botha acquired part-ownership of CIT from previous co-owner Scott MacIntosh, joining du Plessis in running the show.

JT Botha told ESPN: “I started doing MMA as an amateur and Dricus was my coach and I started training there more often, and was invited to join the pro team.

“In the meantime, my wife and I actually also met each other, fell in love and got married and she became part of this whole package. She and I are business partners with Dricus in the CIT Performance Institute gym, and also training partners and really good friends.”

When asked if she had a passion for MMA before getting involved with CIT, Claudia Botha said: “No, actually not. I’ve always had a passion for fitness and I’ve always been an advocate for having a healthy lifestyle.

“I actually have a corporate background. After university, I went and worked for corporate companies and I was always advocating corporate wellness and always into fitness. JT and I went and studied at TUKS (the University of Pretoria) together and it was only almost 10 years later that we reconnected after knowing each other at university.

“We then studied personal training through an American college and an opportunity came up here and we took it. I said: ‘Let’s take the business background and our love for training and fitness and let’s bring it into the gym.'”

When asked about her 10-year vision for CIT as a co-owner, she said: “I get goosebumps when you ask that question. Definitely a CIT Performance Institute in all major cities in South Africa – maybe even further on… We’ve started the franchising process; we have huge demand for that.”

All three co-owners are involved hands-on in the gym’s operation. While Du Plessis is the main man in the octagon, Claudia handles strength & conditioning coaching, while JT manages coaches for CIT’s younger fighters, coaches their amateurs himself, and trains with the pro team.

Meanwhile, CIT pro fighters who could join du Plessis and Saaiman at the highest levels of the sport in the near future include Hulme and Zulu. Both are champions in the EFC, Africa’s largest MMA promotion company.

JC Lamprecht, another CIT fighter and the current EFC light heavyweight champion, told ESPN of the pro team’s philosophy of ‘iron sharpening iron’.

Lamprecht, who serves as a sparring partner for du Plessis, said: “Every single athlete that steps onto this mat has an impact on the final outcome of the gym if I can call it that and the final outcome of each and every athlete.

“It’s not just about what I myself can bring to the table – it’s about the whole team.”

When du Plessis finally steps into the octagon again at UFC 305, he will be carrying not only his hopes on his shoulders, but those of an institution hoping to change the face of MMA – once a fringe sport in South Africa – for good.