Dricus du Plessis nickname: Why is the South African middleweight known as 'Stillknocks?'

Dricus du Plessis has slowly and sneakily climbed the ranking ladder and established himself as one of the dominant champions in the UFC. While his personality, promotional skills and unorthodox fighting style intrigue fans, his nickname is also likely to make people curious.

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Why is Dricus du Plessis known as 'Stillknocks?'

Du Plessis goes by the nickname 'Stillknocks,' given to him by one of his brothers ahead of his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2013. The nickname stems from the drug Stilnox, which is another name for the sleeping pill commonly known as Ambien in the United States. The middleweight title challenger had 30 knockouts in 33 amateur K-1 kickboxing bouts. His ability to finish fights, as the colloquial term goes - 'putting opponents to sleep' - influenced the moniker.

Du Plessis' knockout power has translated to mixed martial arts, as he has a professional record of 20 wins and two losses. He has won nine fights via knockout, 10 fights via submission, and just one fight via decision.

While Dricus du Plessis has never lost via decision, he has been knocked out once and submitted once.

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When Dricus du Plessis narrated the reason for adopting "Stillknox" as his nickname

Ahead of his UFC 297 title fight against Sean Strickland, Dricus du Plessis narrated the incident that led to him adopting 'Stillknox' as his nickname. In an interview with Nina Marie Daniele, du Plessis explained:

"[stilnox] is basically a very high-schedule [drug/medicine]. When I had my first fight, I was 19 years old. And at that stage everybody's called 'The Punisher', 'The Killer', 'The Graveyard Digger' and [other such intense nicknames]. I was 100% sure I did not want to be called anything like that... My brother came up with it and I said, 'What's that?' This was, like, two weeks before my debut, and I was [desperate to have a nickname]. And my brother said, Stilnox is a sleeping pill. I said, 'Alright. Change the spelling, and let's go. Let's see if it sticks."

Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments here.