Dricus du Plessis comes clean about "big key" to his success: "Every opponent that I've faced has said exactly that"

As he gears up for UFC 319, Dricus du Plessis took part in a recent interview with TopGear Mag South Africa, wherein he discussed one of the reasons behind his success in the octagon. The interviewer opined that du Plessis' win streak is, in part, due to the unorthodox nature of his fighting style, which no one can emulate.

This leaves his opponents in a difficult position, having no training partners who can accurately mimic his style. The reigning middleweight champion readily agreed with the interviewer's assessment, saying the following:

"That is 100% true. I think, in preparation, I mean if you look at rugby, boxing, fighting, anything where there's two powers going up against each other, everybody's fit, everybody's strong, top of their game. It's the best of the best in the world. So, gameplans play such a big role and at this stage, I do believe that to be true, and every opponent that I've faced has said exactly that. When you're in there, you don't know where the shots are coming from, what am I going to do next?"

The South African star continued, this time comparing how easy it is to find a training partner to emulate Sean Strickland, a former foe, relative to himself:

"It's so unorthodox and hard to prepare for because where do you find someone who fights like that in the gym in terms of training partners? Finding a guy that fights like Sean Strickland is fairly easy. He has a Philly Shell with some jabs. It's pretty straightforward to get the look. But fighting a guy like me, who dances like a white guy, it's hard to find somebody to mimic that style. I think that's a big key to my success."

Check out Dricus du Plessis outlining his octagon success (4:33):

This unorthodox style has led to an undefeated UFC streak for du Plessis, who has twice beaten Strickland, a former middleweight champion, as well as other middleweight titleholders in Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker.

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Dricus du Plessis defends his title at UFC 319

Dricus du Plessis is set to defend his middleweight title at UFC 319, where he faces the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev. Both men are supremely confident in their chances of victory, with Chimaev having taken to X/Twitter with various taunts aimed at the South African.

A clever trash-talker, du Plessis has responded with his trademark witty banter. The fight marks Chimaev's first-ever UFC title fight, which has been long overdue.