Dricus Du Plessis

Ranked Middleweights Brunson and Du Plessis do battle. Check out our UFC odds series for our Brunson-Du Plessis prediction and pick.

While Brunson is the better wrestler on the ground, Du Plessis has very good takedown defense and is extremely hard to bring down. I think the confidence of Du Plessis, coupled with the age discrepancy and activity in recent fights, will be the difference for him in this one. The issue here is that Du Plessis is extremely aggressive right out of the gate and will try to finish the fight before running out of gas. The level of confidence for Du Plessis is through the roof considering he has yet to lose in the UFC. Du Plessis is most dangerous in the opening round of the fight where he blitz opponents with strikes from awkward angles and throws powerful bombs. Du Plessis will want to keep this fight on the feet where he’ll have the advantage. For Brunson, the key to victory will be surviving the initial onslaught of Du Plessis, waiting for his gas tank to drain, and then controlling him on the ground. The wrestling is where he is at his best, holding opponents down and landing his signature concussive ground-and-pound. Brunson has a tendency to start the fight slow and eat a few shots before really feeling his opponent out. Brunson stands 6’1″ and has a 77-inch reach. Brunson will look to return to his streaking form against another hot fighter in Du Plessis. The UFC 285 Prelims continue rolling with this matchup of top-10 fighters in the Middleweight (185 lb) Division.

Watch UFC 285 full fight video highlights: Dricus du Plessis vs. Derek Brunson earlier tonight (Sat., Mar. 4, 2023) live on ESPN+ PPV from inside T-Mobile ...

Brunson tried to smile it off, but once he hit the canvas du Plessis landed brutal ground-and-pound to force the corner stoppage. Du Plessis, 29, is now 5-0 under the UFC banner with four memorable finishes along the way. Brunson started to tire in the second round and it allowed the South African fighter to absolutely unload with heavy shots.

Derek Brunson and Dricus Du Plessis fight at middleweight on the preliminary card of UFC 285 on Saturday, March 4. We go over start time, how to watch, ...

He is 4-0 and climbing up the ladder in the middleweight division. Brunson wins 52 percent of his bouts via KO/TKO and the other 30 percent via decision. Du Plessis (18-2) has been red hot since joining the UFC in 2020 when he made his debut at UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs. Brunson (23-8) is entering this one coming off of a loss but is 4-1 in his last five. Results: Dricus Du Plessis defeats Derek Brunson via second-round TKO at the 4:59 mark. There are a total of 14 bouts between the three cards, headlined by two co-main events.

A key middleweight scrap at UFC 285 saw longtime veteran Derek Brunson set to face off with surging South African contender Dricus Du Plessis.

Du Plessis landed a left, and a kick to the body. Du Plessis then fought the wrists, and scrambled back to his feet just prior to the buzzer. Brunson was very active on bottom, latching on to a leg — and in turn, Du Plessis went for a foot lock of his own.