After being out of action for nearly a year, South Africa\u2019s Dricus Du Plessis returned to winning ways at UFC Fight Night this weekend through a dominant victory over Kamaru Usman at the Paycom Centre on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
Stilknocks took the centre of the octagon from the first buzzer and immediately laid down the challenge with continuous kicks, while he kept Usman at range with an array of strikes. With the Nigerian offering little offence, Du Plessis wobbled his opponent with a right hand late in the first round as Usman suffered under the former middleweight champion\u2019s pressure.<\/p>\n
Du Plessis continued to find a home for powerful leg kicks in the second round and once again stunned Usman on a couple of occasions, most notably as he landed knee kicks as Usman attempted take-downs.<\/p>\n
Usman found success in the third round, albeit through a brief take-down that saw Du Plessis get back to his feet in swift fashion. However, the Nigerian star continued to eat numerous kicks as he displayed a granite chin by remaining in his stance.<\/p>\n
RAPID COMBINATIONS<\/p>\n
In an attempt to get back on the scorecards, Usman began throwing with bad intentions in the fourth round, none of which troubled Du Plessis, who evaded the flurry of punches. However, the South African fired back in snapping Usman\u2019s head back on a couple of occasions as he landed rapid combinations which were often followed up with a successful left-high kick.<\/p>\n
Usman ate a barrage of high kicks in the final round and showcased little attacking output as the fight came to a close. While Usman attempted take-downs earlier in the fight, DDP then shot for a take-down which was successfully defended by his counterpart. Not giving up, Usman caught a second wind late in the fight, leaving Du Plessis to absorb a swarm of punches as he covered up against the fence until the final buzzer.<\/p>\n
Speaking after the fight, Du Plessis expressed that he was focused on giving fans an exciting fight and ultimately gave Usman his respect despite their African rivalry.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are a wrestling-dominant fighter, and you fight in a main event like that, this is a man I will respect for the rest of my life,\u201d Du Plessis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat man came to give each and every one of you who paid your hard-earned money a proper fight. Not a fight where guys lie on each other for 25 minutes to get some dumbass decision win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you when I make this comeback, Stillknocks 2.0 will be the best version you have ever seen. That is what you call composure. I didn\u2019t go crazy when I caught him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can always get the knockout. You need to train your mind to be composed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Du Plessis, who now looks forward to challenging for the middleweight belt once more, also mentioned that he hopes to receive a title fight in the near future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m back in the winner\u2019s circle, baby. Let\u2019s get my belt back!\u201d.<\/p>\n
UFC Fight Night Main Card results:<\/p>\n
Dricus du Plessis defeated Kamaru Usman by unanimous decision (50-45, 49-46, 49-46)<\/p>\n
Christian Leroy Duncan defeated Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)<\/p>\n
Chase Hooper defeated Mitch Ramirez by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:15 of Round 1<\/p>\n
Fatima Kline defeated Tabatha Ricci by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)<\/p>\n
Tommy McMillen defeated Alberto Montes by TKO (strikes) at 3:29 of Round 3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After being out of action for nearly a year, South Africa\u2019s Dricus Du Plessis returned to winning ways…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[4225,64,63,786,785,44,85,72908],"class_list":["post-810246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-ultimate-fighting-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}