Dricus du Plessis will have the support of two South African sports legends ahead of his bout with Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, by the looks of things.
Du Plessis, who defends his middleweight crown on Saturday in Perth, Australia in the first-ever UFC title fight to feature two African-born fighters, will be walked to the cage by two of toughest compatriots: South African rugby captain Siya Kolisi and the giant Springbok lock, Eben Etzebeth (pictured above, right).
Kolisi, who stands 6ft 1in and weighs in at around 230-pounds, is regarded as one of the most inspirational sporting figures in all of South Africa and last year became just the second person in history to captain his nation to a back-to-back Rugby World Cup victory.
Etzebeth, meanwhile, who is close to 6ft 9in tall and weighs a mammoth 260-pounds, is known for being one of the sport’s most dominant enforcers and hails from a family of champion wrestlers (and as his bio states, ‘bar room brawlers’).
“We are trying to get Eben [Etzebeth] and Siya [Kolisi] to walk out with me and it looks like it’s a done deal. They won’t be sitting in my corner but will walk out with me to the octagon which is pretty special,” Du Plessis said during an interview with South African radio show KFM Mornings, as noted by talkSPORT.
“Because Perth is so far ahead, I’m fighting on Sunday and the Springboks are playing on Saturday. All of them are going to be at the fight, and it’s going to be awesome,” Du Plessis added. “The Boks are playing, they are the pride of South Africa and then I’m fighting, all on the same weekend — talk about stars aligning.”
The middleweight champion added: “I can’t wait, this fight is by far the biggest in my career. This is my World Cup, my last one was in January in Canada and now I’m defending it.
“Once I put that South African flag around my shoulders, there is nothing in the world that can stop me. He can knock me down, but he won’t knock me out and he won’t keep me down.”
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