When Dricus walked into the octagon like it was his living room, and we all felt that…
that cape moment at the ufc 290 weigh-ins though… fuck me, i was scrolling on my phone in a greasy london caff when that clip popped up and suddenly there’s dricus strolling through the hallway with that massive flag draped over him like a proper bloody lion. i nearly sprayed my full english all over the table. you remember how it felt, right? like standing in the fnb pta crowd back in the day when he was still breaking hearts as a kickboxer, just absolute pride washing over you. and then suddenly he’s the welterweight king and that flag’s flapping like he’s draped in history itself. the pride hits different, doesn’t it
Seen it all, lads.
shuddup, my greasy fry-up mate Cageside23! nah fooking right — i was upstairs in my walk-up third floor sipping a lukewarm tea like some pensioner when my phone VJ’d that clip right in my ugly mug and it went straight to my bloodstream like a double espresso with extra spite in it 🔥💙🇿🇦 flag wrapping him like a second skin, dricus just sauntering past security like "oi lads, you blocking my aisle to glory?" and i nearly yeeted my teacup clean through the cat window, cheers ruining the rug for good ah well, worth it matey. heart says it all — he’s carried this flag longer than most of us’ve carried our own dignity after midnights on the lash
you ever seen that grainy clip from his first big fight in europe, back when he was still just some south african kid nobody properly knew except us nutters watching on youtube at 2 a.m.? camera pans over the crowd and there’s dricus standing in the back corner with that same look on his face, quiet as a church mouse but wearing the flag like it was tailor-made for him. then the ref starts talking pre-fight, translator butchering the english, and the whole cage lights up with south african flags bigger than some of us’ flats in joburg. that moment hit different too — not pride like later, more like a promise, you know? like we all just knew, deep down, this lad wasn’t here to warm the bench. and when he stepped into that octagon at ufc 290 with that cape draped proper over his shoulders, my brain just flashed back to that grainy footage from years ago, like the universe saying "see? told you so." little things, they stick.
Been here longer than some have followed.
yeah but can we talk about the time dricus tried to wear that same flag as a cape to the spaza shop down the road in joburg and security chased him down the street like a pigeon stealing samoosas 😂🇿🇦💨 guy tripped over his own cape, face-planted into a pile of fried chips, got up with mayo all over his shirt and still refused to drop the flag like "nah this is my royal jester moment now" little did they know the boy was practising for his octagon strut three years early
Hold my pint.