Dricus du Plessis has explained how becoming UFC middleweight champion has helped to improve his team.
Back at UFC 297, Dricus du Plessis won the UFC middleweight championship. He did so by overcoming Sean Strickland in an intense, physical battle for the belt. Now, he’s gearing up to defend the strap for the first time against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.
This is a feud that has some real heat behind it based on past comments between the two men. Of course, for du Plessis, he’ll see this as just another day at the office.
During a recent interview, the South African sensation spoke about the impact that winning the gold has had on his entire team.
du Plessis’ team steps up
“It’s been great. It’s been everything that I expected, everything that I hoped for, and better,” Du Plessis said. “And training-wise, once I got that belt, I got a fire under me. A lot of people might think once you win that belt, you lose some of that hunger. I always said it, becoming UFC champion is not my end goal, not at all. … There’s a new hunger. There’s that championship hunger because now I’m defending my throne, and I’ll do anything to defend that throne.
“In training, the team, everybody’s stepped it up because now they’re going up against the world champion. Everybody wants to land a shot on the world champion,” Du Plessis continued. “If you can give the world champ a hard time, you’re not far off getting that big shot. My team’s amazing. The coaches, everybody’s stepped it up. Everybody realized, we are now world champions and we should behave as such when it comes to training, recovering. … Just another level.”
Quotes via MMA News
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