The man who makes friends by kicking, hitting and choking

WE thought a Portrait about Dricus du Plessis was a good idea because many readers, like ourselves, probably only started taking notice – perhaps somewhat reluctantly – in January that South Africa has a world champion in “cage fighting".

Did it have to be such a barbaric sport, we may have wondered. And how long would it take for old Dricus to say something on the world stage that we'd have to be ashamed of?

But exactly the opposite happened. Dricus may often get hit on the mouth but he's never at a loss for words. We started to realise “what they knew" that many of us didn't: that he has a masterful gift for self-promotion and the advancement of his sport, is an ambassador for the country, and can kick a meme or three into life every time he opens his mouth.

He is witty, eloquent and full of life, and all sorts of people easily feel at home in his company. He can also down a beer in under three seconds AND he can sing AND he has his own clothing line AND he successfully defended his world title last weekend.

Dricus “Stillknocks" du Plessis (his nickname comes for obvious reasons from the sleeping pill Stilnox) started doing judo when he was five, then wrestling and kickboxing by the time he was 14. Three years later, he won a gold medal in K-1 style at the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations world championships.

His transition to mixed martial arts coincided with the growing dominance of American promotion company Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He studied agricultural economics at Tukkies but dropped out in his final year to focus full-time on UFC.

UFC originated in 1993 as a way to find out which of the popular martial arts, including judo, karate, kung fu, jiujitsu and kickboxing, would prevail in the ring. Initially, there were few rules (the official slogan “There are no rules" was only a slight exaggeration) and no separate weight classes. Fights took place in UFC's patented eight-sided ring, the so-called Octagon.

In the early years, UFC was so chaotic and violent that when Senator John McCain saw a recording of it in 1996, he started an (unsuccessful) campaign to have it banned. These days it's different, but it's still not a sport for the meek. To understand how rough it was back then, just look at a list of things that are now explicitly forbidden “and which may result in penalties":

* Butting with the head
* Eye-gouging of any kind
* Biting or spitting at an opponent
* Fish-hooking (the act of inserting a finger or fingers or one or both hands into the mouth or nostrils or a person, pulling away from the centreline of the body)
* Hair-pulling
* Throat strikes of any kind, and/or grabbing the trachea
* Fingers outstretched toward an opponent’s face/eyes
* Groin attacks of any kind
* Kneeing and/or kicking the head of a grounded opponent
* Stomping a grounded opponent
* Small joint manipulation (I'm not sure what this entails, but the ban sounds appropriate.)
* Throwing opponent out of ring/fighting area
* Intentionally placing a finger into any orifice or any cut or laceration of an opponent
* Clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh
* Timidity (avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping the mouthpiece or faking an injury)
* Flagrant disregarding of the referee’s instructions (normal disregarding is apparently acceptable)

And then there are the things that are not only legal but are considered a legitimate way to defeat your opponent. Apart from a knockout or a technical knockout like in boxing, there is a long list of possible “submissions" that can force your opponent to surrender. It includes:

* The Face Crank, with which Dricus triumphed over Israel Adesanya last weekend;
* The Guillotine choke; 
* The Rear-naked choke (feel free to Google this if you want to know more, but be careful);
* The Anaconda;
* The Bulldog;
* The Ezekiel (I dared to Google this one. Somewhat disappointingly, it’s not a reference to Old Testament wrath but to a Brazilian judoka, Ezequiel Paraguassu.);
* The Scarf Hold and The Hand Squeeze, which sound deceptively harmless;
* The Pillory, named after those wooden blocks in which European wrongdoers were locked in the good old days so villagers could pelt them with rotten food.

Basically, a “submission" comes down to having your opponent in such a firm hold that there’s no chance of escape. And if no one manages to secure one of these holds after three or five rounds (the latter in title or other important bouts) of five minutes each, the winner, as in boxing, is the one who has scored the most points from the three judges.

I suspect it's only a matter of time before we hear of a new type of hold known as The Dricus, because our man certainly doesn't lack imagination. In May, for example, he was unmasked – literally – as the guy who took part in the talent show The Masked Singer SA dressed in a dramatic wildebeest outfit and singing Counting Stars by the American band OneRepublic (listen for the surprised voices saying, “It's a white person!"):

Also check out this short but fun interview in which UFC influencer Nina Marie Daniele (known as @NinaDrama) asks him why he didn’t include his singing abilities among his exceptional talents in their previous conversation, and how he goes about winning a stare-down:

Dricus's coach, Morné Visser, also made his contribution to South African cultural heritage:

Another interesting insight into Dricus's way of looking at the world comes from an interview by the black American UFC legend and now commentator Daniel Cormier, shortly before his fight against Adesanya.

Cormier says: “Well I'll be honest with ya. Like, they're trying to bring race into it. I've got family, and they're like man, I don't like this Dricus du Plessis. And it's like, they're buying into this narrative that has been put out there in front of them, [but] they don't know you. I know you, you're a great guy, nice guy. And you actually sit here with me, even though I've been very hard on you. I'm done [with that] now though, I tell you one thing, I'm fuckin' done questioning you bro."

To which Dricus responds: “I've listened to a lot of things you've said, and I've actually taken some of it to heart. I started working on some of those things … I've grown so used to being booed [but then] walking out and being cheered by the end of the fight …"

If Dricus defends his world title on South African soil, as UFC boss Dana White has promised, he can be pretty sure no one in the crowd is going to boo him. And something tells me he will be treated like a hero after that fight as well, no matter what the outcome.

♦ VWB ♦

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