(Exclusive): "He was in great shape" - Dricus Du Plessis sheds light on interaction with MMA Guru, clears air on photoshopped picture

Dricus Du Plessis recently cleared the air regarding his interaction with MMA Guru as well as the online reaction to their photo.

The middleweight contender and the YouTuber took a photo while he was at his gym, which raised suspicion from the MMA community as many believed the photo to have been altered using Photoshop. MMA Guru looked taller and leaner than he does in his videos, so they were under the impression that the photo was fake.

During his pre-fight media availability ahead of his title fight against middleweight champion Sean Strickland, Du Plessis addressed the rumors surrounding the legitimacy of the photo. When asked by Sportskeeda MMA's James Lynch regarding the photo, the South African responded by mentioning that he was quite surprised when he saw the YouTuber in person. He said:

"People thought it was photoshopped, it wasn't. Obviously the angle was upwards, but I thought he was a short fat guy to be honest. I thought he was gonna be a little bit overweight and short. When I saw him, he was in great shape, like, he was in good shape and he was super tall, so that was really cool." [19:10 - 19:28]

Now that Du Plessis cleared the air regarding the photo, it will be interesting to see whether the MMA community will put the photoshop rumors to rest.

Check out the full media availability below:

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Dricus Du Plessis addresses whether he would be interested in fighting at UFC 300

Dricus Du Plessis is about to compete in the biggest fight of his career as he challenges Sean Strickland for the middleweight championship. However, he noted that being included in the promotion's milestone UFC 300 event would be enticing.

During the aforementioned media availability, Sportskeeda MMA's James Lynch asked 'Stoneknocks' whether he would be interested in competing at UFC 300 should he win the title unscathed. He responded by mentioning that he would be interested but didn't want to look past a dangerous opponent like Strickland. He said:

"Let me tell you this, that would be ideal. That would be an ideal situation, I would love to fight [at] UFC 300. As a champion, it doesn't get much bigger than that, except if we take it to South Africa." [20:30 - 20:43]

Tweet regarding du Plessis' media availability [Image courtesy: @LynchOnSports - X]