UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis hasn’t tasted defeat in nearly seven years, but the last person to put him down and add to his loss column has nothing but praise for him and the immense success he’s found since they last faced off.
Roberto Soldic, a former two-division champion in KSW and current fighter with ONE Championship preparing for his return at ONE 171 in Qatar on Feb. 20, faced du Plessis twice in back-to-back fights in 2018. In their first encounter, Soldic suffered a second-round TKO loss that saw du Plessis crowned as welterweight champion.
Soldic got his revenge in the rematch after he blasted du Plessis with punches to score a third-round knockout to reclaim his title, but that also stands as the last blemish on the South African’s record after winning his next 10 fights in a row, including a perfect 8-0 resume in the UFC.
“I was not surprised,” Soldic said about du Plessis’ success in the UFC when speaking to MMA Fighting. “Because from the first fight [with me], he made this big knockout with his left hand because he’s a really good striker. I was not surprised. I know he’s really strong.
“People ask me sometimes, how was the fight with him? That time really, he’s crazy, crazy powerful. Conditioned. Uncomfortable still. Unpredictable. You don’t know what’s coming. From the straight punches, he can shoot, he can choke you out.”
Soldic says that after losing to du Plessis, he had to go back to the drawing board to see exactly where he went wrong so he could make the necessary adjustments to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.
It turns out, Soldic has seen many of the top fighters in the UFC make the same mistakes against du Plessis that he made in their back-to-back encounters.
“I think [Israel] Adesanya made [this same] mistake too. I think they underestimate him,” Soldic said. “He doesn’t look good but he’s deceptive. When he steps in the cage, [he throws] hard punches. Nobody accepts this. He moves crazy and then he just throws something crazy. But it’s effective.
“The first fight I underestimated him. He got me sometimes. He got me in the press conference, he tried to go inside my head. He got me in the first fight, he got me emotional. I wanted to badly finish him. I didn’t control myself. The second fight, I was more calm, more sharp. Sharper and patient and that’s why people make a big mistake. They underestimate him and he steps in the cage and he’s ready to fight. He tries to get inside your head. He’s always smiling in the rounds.”
Of course, Soldic was very happy to get his revenge on du Plessis in their rematch and that win only looks better and better these days.
The biggest difference between the first fight and the second fight was Soldic learning now to adapt to du Plessis’ unorthodox style and figuring out where he should zig instead of zag. Obviously the result showed the changes Soldic made paid off.
“In my rematch with him, I read everything,” Soldic explained. “I was more calm, more patient. I was sharp. I didn’t rush. He’s the champion for a reason. He’s a very powerful guy and conditioned very well.”
On Saturday, du Plessis faces Sean Strickland in a rematch after their first fight was a back-and-forth battle that ended in a razor-close split decision.
As much as Strickland probably wants to repeat what Soldic did in his second fight against du Plessis, the former KSW champion is still backing his former opponent and praises him for the uncanny ability to find new and creative ways to win.
“Everything what he throws is hard — hard as f*ck,” Soldic said about du Plessis. “It’s crazy. You think you got him, he wobbles a little bit and then he just explodes and catches you like Robert Whittaker with the jab. He has really good [knockout] power. I don’t know. He’s the same fighter as when he fought me. He’s 100 kilos so he’s a middleweight now. I’m 91 kilos but I can read him still. I read my opponents good. I read them very well.
“Strickland is also good but I think Dricus is going to defend his title again. I don’t know why but I think he’s now only going up.”
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