Stephen Thompson breaks down Dricus du Plessis' "weird" striking style, explains why it's so effective: "What he's doing is working"
Stephen Thompson has addressed Dricus du Plessis' striking style and explained why it works even at the highest levels of the sport. Thompson suggested that Du Plessis' training over the years has likely played a role in subconsciously sculpting his unorthodox style.
America's Thompson is a revered karateka and kickboxing veteran who's long been a UFC welterweight staple. He's previously challenged for the UFC 170-pound title twice, but it's eluded him thus far. South Africa's Dricus du Plessis has competed at both welterweight and middleweight in his MMA career. The 30-year-old is the reigning UFC middleweight champion.
During a recent appearance on Submission Radio, Stephen Thompson addressed Dricus du Plessis' fighting style, particularly his striking. 'Wonderboy' implied that Du Plessis' body has developed that style due to routinely training a certain way.
The 41-year-old cited himself as an example, noting that when he's in an open-stance encounter -- an orthodox vs. southpaw striking situation -- he instinctively attempts to keep his lead foot outside the line of his foe's lead foot.
Stephen Thompson explained:
"Yeah, it's such a weird style that it's hard to really figure out. It's like, sometimes, I have a hard time with people that don't have a lot of skill just because they're so spastic and they throw techniques from out of nowhere. It's so weird. I can see how people would have a lot of difficulty fighting him. Because he does a lot of pulling techniques, he does spinning techniques. It is like with no real good technique.
"And I understand where he's coming from, when people are breaking down his fights. He's out there not thinking about it, but it's all in the training, how he's developing all this. Even though he's not thinking about it, what he's doing is working because it's years of preparation, doing all the sparring and things like that ... But he's such a weird striker, man. It works, man. It freaking works."
Check out Thompson's assessment below (9:50):
The uncanny commonality between Stephen Thompson and Dricus du Plessis
Many fans hail Stephen Thompson as one of the greatest strikers in MMA history, but he's oft-criticized for supposed weaknesses in his grappling. On the other hand, Dricus du Plessis is counted among the most well-rounded combatants who possess a healthy mix of striking and grappling abilities. However, some argue that Du Plessis' striking lacks finesse.
A remarkable link is that they've both out-struck and knocked out Robert Whittaker. Thompson bested Whittaker at welterweight via first-round TKO at UFC 170 (Feb. 2014). Similarly, Du Plessis stopped Whittaker via second-round TKO in their middleweight bout at UFC 290 (July 2023). Whittaker, who's a former UFC middleweight champion, later lauded Du Plessis' "awkward" striking style.
Presently, Thompson is scheduled to face Joaquin Buckley in a welterweight bout at UFC 307 (Oct. 5, 2024). Meanwhile, Du Plessis could possibly defend his UFC middleweight championship in a rematch against ex-champion Sean Strickland next, or perhaps against the winner of the upcoming Robert Whittaker-Khamzat Chimaev fight.