"Kicked me right in the head" - Dricus du Plessis reflects on training with Valentina Shevchenko early in his career
Dricus du Plessis is the current king of the UFC's middleweight division. But during a recent appearance on the South African radio show Jacaranda FM, he shared some eye-opening details of his first sparring session with the current queen of UFC's flyweight division, Valentina Shevchenko.
Shevchenko accrued a staggering seven title defenses in her first reign as champion from 2018-2022, before regaining the title at UFC 306 in 2024.
Du Plessis posted a recent story about training with Shevchenko and said:
"Valentina Shevchenko, that's the name. She is incredible. I've sparred her once, when I was younger, like 19 or 20. She's very small, fights at 52 kilograms I think, or 57. And I'm looking at this lady, I'm still a youngster, and I thought, 'How am I supposed to [spar]?' And she kicked me right in the head the first time. And I'm like, 'Okay, this is not me taking it easy. This is me surviving.'"
Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments below (23:10):
Dricus du Plessis discusses finding more success against Sean Strickland than Israel Adesanya
Israel Adesanya is widely regarded as one of the best strikers in UFC history. But when facing off against Sean Strickland at UFC 293, 'The Last Stylebender' was unable to land strikes with his usual proficiency.
Dricus du Plessis, however, found success on the feet against Strickland at UFC 297 that eclipsed that of Adesanya. 'Stillknocks' was able to defeat 'Tarzan' via split-decision to become the first-ever South African UFC champion.
He has now been scheduled to face Strickland in a rematch, with the pair set to clash at UFC 312 in February. Ahead of the bout, Du Plessis was interviewed by Main Event, where he dissected his success against Strickland relative to Adesanya's.
"I don't mind getting punched in the face. That was the biggest difference. That what is. I'll take one to give one because I know mine's harder. I think that's the biggest difference. I went and fought Strickland on his strength, I made him go backward."
He continued:
"If you look at Paulo Costa and [Adesanya], they were running. They were trying to set something up. Strickland is too good if you're going to try and do that."
Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments below: (8:40):