UFC 312 represents the second title rematch of Dricus Du Plessis’ professional MMA career; the South African will certainly be hoping for a better outcome this time around.
‘Stillknocks’ has brawled his way to UFC championship gold and glory with only two defeats on his professional MMA record: a submission loss in 2014, and a nasty KO in 2018.
And it’s that final loss that’s central here – when Dricus Du Plessis was brutally finished by long-time rival Roberto Soldic in one of the greatest rivalries in KSW history.
Dricus Du Plessis’ last MMA loss was a brutal third-round knockout
The year is 2018 and after dispatching Croatia’s Roberto ‘Robocop’ Soldic by way of second-round TKO to claim the KSW welterweight championship, the promotion moved to book the rematch for KSW 45 just six months later.
Fight Week saw the two rivals go back and forth in a bitter war of words, with Du Plessis accusing Soldic of being on the sauce, and the Croatian returning the favor by stating ‘Stillknocks’ was already making excuses.
Unfortunately for the South African, it was ‘Robocop’ who got the last laugh.
After a close opening two rounds in which both fighters found minor success, Soldic landed a beautiful overhand left that badly wobbled Du Plessis and sent him crashing into the cage wall.
‘Stillknocks’ attempted to save himself by employing his superior wrestling, but ‘Robocop’ wasn’t about to let the fight get away from him again, using slick combinations to keep Du Plessis at bay and under the cosh.
As the fight clock ticked past 2:30 of the third round, Soldic unloaded an insane combination to snap Du Plessis’ head back, before landing a nasty knee to the body, followed by a second enormous overhand that dropped the future UFC champion.
Du Plessis crumpled to the ground and the referee quickly waved off the fight as Soldic rushed in with vicious ground and pound; it remains the only knockout loss of Du Plessis’ career and is his last loss to date in the octagon.
Five years later, Dricus Du Plessis claimed UFC middleweight gold
Dricus Du Plessis would bounce back from that shock knockout loss with a second-round TKO of his own in September 2019, followed up by a first-round submission win that December – those victories were enough for the UFC to sign ‘Stillknocks’ to their roster.
The South African’s UFC debut couldn’t have gone any better, a first-round knockout over Markus Perez in October 2020 – and just like that, Du Plessis was off to the races.
A TKO win over Trevin Giles led into a stop-start 12 months for Du Plessis, who saw four fights canceled in quick succession, before rounding out the year with a UD win over Brad Tavares and a standout submission of Darren Till.
Derek Brunson was then stopped in the second round before he truly announced himself on the UFC championship radar with an incredible knockout of former champion Robert Whittaker.
‘Stillknocks’ would claim UFC gold in a razor-close split decision to Sean Strickland in January, following up with an impressive submission win over Israel Adesanya in his first title defense.
And now we’re all caught up to speed, we can set our sights on next weekend’s PPV – can Du Plessis go 2-0 up over Strickland, or will we hear ‘And New’ down under?
Find out on Saturday, February 8 at UFC 312: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2.