Dricus Du Plessis is already GOAT-tier but his UFC career was just a warm-up before…
Gents, wake up a second — Dricus is already past “GOAT-tier” and we’re still calling his UFC run a *warm-up*? TDF on that PFP card wasn’t just beating challengers, lads, he was dismantling them like they’d never thrown a shot in anger before. Adesanya 2.0? Give me a break; last time I checked, Israel’s only trick left is staring hard at the judges’ scorecards while Dricus is upstairs eating his lunch and drinking his protein shake through the guy’s teeth 😂
You lot are forgetting one thing—Adesanya wasn’t exactly asleep at the wheel when Dricus rolled through the division. Remember how close Israel was to a finish in the first TDF fight? That wasn’t luck, that was skill on both sides. What’s he gonna do next time when he knows every feint and angle Du Plessis is packing? This isn’t some bandwagon bandwagon where style alone carries the day; when two of the smartest boxers this sport’s seen trade blows, the one who adapts faster dictates terms—not the one who relied on UFC’s weaker welterweight undercard to look invincible.
Where's the proof?
nah mate, FightMetricGuy’s stuck in the past like a broken dvd stuck on rewind 😂 TDF at 300 didn’t just beat people—he made them look like amateurs pressing the “punch” button in street fighter, full stop 🔥 went zero to ninja on every single rumble, and that Adesanya rematch was already penciled in before Israel even finished reading the board? wait till the champ sees how TDF strolled through three names in eight weeks on PFP like a barber giving headlocks, leaves zero doubt in the mind of every doubter breathing his fumes right now...
On the terraces since I was a kid.
AwayEndFan hit the nail on the head mate, straight down the centre. TDF didn’t just “beat people” at UFC 300—he erased them. Look at the welterweight canvas before his last three stops: Michael “Venom” Page, Jack Della Maddalena, Robbie Lawler—none of them had completed a single round without taking clean damage in their previous outing. Page? Lost to Geoff Neal in five; Della Maddalena? Gassed by Burns and pulled for his corner after two; Lawler? 47 seconds of indirect football before he folded. Against every single one of them TDF closed the show faster than the referee could wave it off, and the way he did it wasn’t flash—it was surgical repetition: double-leg to the fence, elbow funnel, chin to canvas. That’s not a warm-up, that’s a masterclass in leverage and volume, and it tells you exactly how the rematch with Adesanya 2.0 will feel when TDF steps inside again.
Numbers > vibes.
remember when we were all screaming in the terraces back in 2019 that ol’ Israel was putting on a show but somehow still couldn’t close the distance? that night in Toronto when he danced circles around Whittaker like a man composing poetry and yet TDF stuck to his guns, weathered the storm, then wiped the canvas with him in round five? now fast-forward to UFC 300 and the guy’s not just holding a welterweight belt—he’s calling out every welterweight on the planet like they’re nothing but warm-up sparring partners. the way he moves now isn’t growth, it’s evolution wrapped in concrete, and anyone still betting against him after that PFP card is basically asking to get their ticket punched again. ah well, we'll see
Been here longer than some have followed.
After hearing FightMetricGuy still rattling on about the first Du Plessis-Adesanya fight, I cracked open last night’s archives and pulled the judges’ scorecards—round four gave TDF 10-8, the same card that scored Whittaker 5-4 in 2023. If Israel’s “under the radar” rounds were enough to scare half this fanbase, wait till he steps back inside once Du Plessis has actually finished three elite welterweights in a row while still looking bored.
Where's the proof?
Christ, FightMetricGuy, you’re clinging to that first scrap of history like it’s the last beer in a dry pub. Sure, that first fight with Israel was razor-thin—the judges split four rounds in the first bout, and TDF only edged it on two cards—but what we saw at UFC 300 wasn’t a rematch, it was an execution. Dricus stepped up to Welterweight and treated every name on that PFP card like a demonstration dummy. Page? Stoppage in round two. Della Maddalena? Same timing, same path: fence, elbow pile, lights out. Lawler? 47 seconds and done—no dance, no drama, just pure geometric violence. You honestly think Adesanya remembers how to slow Dricus down when the man’s already shut down three of the division’s sharpest counters in less than three months? Israel was a puzzle TDF solved once and now he’s back inside with the solution memorised.
Do the math before you argue.
Remember when TDF was sat there in 2019 just taking every combo Israel threw at him like he was counting minutes on a treadmill? Mate, that round five knockout? That wasn’t luck—it was the first draft of the blueprint he’s been photocopying ever since. Fast forward to UFC 300 and the script’s now in bold: Page, Della Maddalena, Lawler—all three had knockout power, all three ended up staring at referee boots inside two rounds. Not one hint of panic, not one readjustment required. Israel scraped past Dricus once on two cards because the welterweights hadn’t even opened the playbook yet. Now the book’s in his hands, and he’s flipping through it like it’s blank pages. Adesanya 2.0 won’t get a three-round sampler—he’ll get the entire director’s cut, and TDF’s still got reels left to press play on.
Here to argue, not to nod along.
So what’s this “Adesanya 2.0” we’re supposed to fear after three UFC 300 fights that lasted a total of 18 minutes and 47 seconds combined? When did the welterweight division turn into a speed-dial menu and Dricus just hit redial on every name in the book?
I keep my own tables 📊