Dricus Du Plessis continues his rise up the middleweight ranks with a TKO win over veteran Derek Brunson at UFC 285.
Round 1
Du Plessis starts by storming the centre, he throws two kicks one wide of the mark and the other caught. Derek Brunson uses the catch to transition the fight to the mat and looks to control in his preferred domain.
Du Plessis gets in a position to stand up but Brunson takes the neck. The choke isn’t deep and Du Plessis ends up on top. Both men now look to trade leg locks, with Dricus targeting the foot, Brunson shrugs it off and transitions to his opponent’s back.
Back on his feet Du Plessis looks exhausted and Brunson begins to tee off. Wobbling Dricus, Brunson scored another takedown ending the round in control.
Round 2
When coming together each man abandons technical brilliance in an attempt to land the killer shot. Dricus rocks Brunson and begins to find his grove. Now he’s taking a patient approach, success is much more frequent. Brunson shoots a desperate takedown after eating several deadly clad kicks.
At the mid-way point of the second, both men look fatigued. Du Plessis eats a left hand before shooting a takedown which grounds Brunson momentarily. Back on the feet, Brunson rocks Derek with every shot and finally drops him.
Following Brunson, to the mat Dricus lands some huge strikes forcing the Brunson corner the throw in the towel. Ruling Dricus Du Plessis the winner via TKO at the end of the second.
What’s Next?
Dricus Du Plessis continues his undefeated start to his UFC and moves to 5-0 inside the organisation. Earning the biggest win of his career thus far, next week he’ll be ranked top five in the middleweight division.
Now among the elite of the elite, Du Plessis is within touching distance of a shot at the gold. Middleweight has plenty of options at the moment with the likes of Robert Whittaker, Jared Cannonier and Paulo Costa all without fights.
If the UFC decides to pull the trigger on a card in Africa, Dricus could be the perfect man to headline a show in South Africa.
What would you like to see Du Plessis do next?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
