Dricus Du Plessis Explains How He Taught Himself MMA From Magazines: “I Would Train Them with My Brother.”
Before becoming a UFC champion, Dricus Du Plessis taught himself mixed martial arts through old issues of Fighters Only magazine.
On Saturday, February 8, ‘Stillknocks’ will return to the Octagon set to defend his middleweight title for the second time when he meets the man he took the gold from a little more than a year ago, Sean Strickland. The two will headline UFC 312 when the promotion heads back to Sydney, Australia for its second pay-per-view event of 2025.
Du Plessis goes into his first fight of the year boasting a perfect 8-0 record under the UFC banner, including wins over Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya, and of course, Sean Strickland. The first time around, ‘DDP’ defeated Strickland via a somewhat controversial split decision to claim his first UFC title. This time, he’ll have to fend off ‘Tarzan’ who heads to The Land Down Under hellbent on reclaiming the crown he lost at UFC 297.
Du Plessis used his brothers to train MMA moves he found in magazines
But long before he’d made a name for himself on MMA’s biggest stage, Du Plessis was just a young aspiring fighter using his brothers to train moves he’d seen in magazines.
“I was from a small town. Nobody knew MMA, right? I went in, and the fight started,” Du Plessis told talkSPORT. “Obviously, being a kickboxer, the first thing I did—I had seen these techniques in Fighters Only magazine, they always had these things—so I would train them with my brother.
“I would ask him to help me. He was older, and both of them were Judo champions, so they understood what was going on. You know, the internet and YouTube weren’t like they are now. Social media wasn’t a thing, so that wasn’t a possibility.”
With a 22-2 overall record and a 91% finish rate, clearly studying those magazines paid off.
Will ‘Stillknocks’ keep the train running and go two-up on Sean Strickland inside the Qudos Bank Arena this weekend, or will ‘Tarzan’ even the series and hand ‘DDP’ the first loss of his UFC run?
