Over its 32 years of existence, there have been some extremely entertaining trash talkers in the UFC but middleweight champion, Dricus Du Plessis is regarded as one of the best currently.
One way the UFC gained so much popularity is because of personalities like Chael Sonnen and Conor McGregor being extremely entertaining on the microphone.
Current middleweight champion, Dricus Du Plessis has a different style of trash talk to the aforementioned duo but he is widely regarded as the best on the microphone currently because of his track record.
Ahead of his UFC 297 title fight against Sean Strickland, the South African reduced the usually macho Strickland to tears after bringing up a traumatic experience from his childhood.
Fast forward to his UFC 305 title defense against Israel Adesanya and Du Plessis once again reduced his opponent to tears during the pre-fight press conference.
Dricus Du Plessis explains how he hones his trash talk
As with any elite-level trash talker, fans have questioned whether Du Plessis’ trash talk is pre-planned or whether it is just off the cuff.
Ahead of his UFC 312 main event rematch against Strickland, ‘Stillknocks’ has explained how he hones his trash talk to try and get the most out of his pre-fight meetings with his opponents.
“Pre-rehearsed is hard to say, people always ask me do I practice these things,” he began to explain in an interview with Main Event.
“I just know my opponents inside and out and when it comes to me fighting, this is my life, this is everything to me, I know everything there is to know, I don’t go to any press conference and say I’m gonna say this to get under his skin.
“I give you the chance to be respectful and if you try to bully me or try to be disrespectful and try to be a smart ass, I will put you in your place,” he continued.
The champion has claimed that if Strickland attempts to get under his skin ahead of their rematch, he will once again put him in his place but not with pre-rehearsed lines.
“Pre-rehearsed, there’s no way you can pre-rehearse, you don’t know what’s gonna be said, what’s gonna be asked, you have to be on the spot for those kind of things.
“It’s a lot like a fight, you can train as much as you want but that changes because you don’t know what’s gonna happen in there,” Du Plessis admitted.
Sean Strickland takes back UFC 312 ‘pact’ offer
Just a few weeks out from their rematch, Strickland offered Du Plessis a ‘gentleman’s agreement’, asking him to make a pact to only strike during their fight.
Despite that, Du Plessis snubbed the former champion’s ridiculous offer, stating that ‘there are no pacts between lion and men’.
Since then, ‘Tarzan’ has walked back his original offer following Du Plessis’ response and has welcomed a ‘cuddle on the ground’ with the champion.