Dricus du Plessis was born in Hatfield, Pretoria, on January 14, 1994.
At the age of five, he began training in judo. He then shifted to kickboxing at the age of 14.
Du Plessis eventually won the WAKO World Championship in K-1-style kickboxing. But after seeing that kickboxing offered a little financial reward, he switched to mixed martial arts.
Du Plessis enrolled at the University of Pretoria to study agricultural economics. However, he left during his final year to focus solely on his mixed martial arts career.
Du Plessis made his professional MMA debut in 2013. He ended up having a perfect 4-0 record before facing future UFC competitor and EFC Middleweight Champion Garreth McLellan. McLellan submitted Du Plessis with a guillotine choke in the third round, which resulted in his defeat.
Du Plessis made his welterweight debut at EFC Africa 40 in June 2015. He competed against Dino Bagattin and won through rear-naked choke submission in the second round.
After going 3-0 in 2015, Du Plessis competed for the vacant EFC Welterweight Championship at EFC 50. He competed against seasoned combatant Martin Van Staden. Du Plessis was submitted in the third round via guillotine choke.
Du Plessis rejoined the EFC in 2017. He competed in a Welterweight match against Brazilian Mauricio Da Rocha Jr.
Du Plessis then competed against Yannick Bahati for the Middleweight Championship at EFC Africa 62. Du Plessis won the match by guillotine choke in the first round. He ended up becoming the promotion’s two-division champion.
At KSW 43 in April 2018, Du Plessis was scheduled to challenge the KSW Welterweight Champion Roberto Soldic for the title. Du Plessis surprised the crowd by defeating Soldic by way of a TKO after dropping him with a left hook.
The two eventually squared off again at KSW 45: De Fries vs. Bedorf that autumn. However, Du Plessis ended up losing the match by knockout in the third round.
Dricus Du Plessis at welterweight vs middleweightDricus Du Plessis was scheduled to challenge Brendan Lesar for the title at EFC Africa 83 in his comeback. Du Plessis won the match via first-round guillotine choke submission.
In October 2020 at UFC Fight Night 179, Du Plessis faced Markus Perez in his first match in the promotion. Du Plessis won the match via knockout in the first round.
Du Plessis competed against Brad Tavares in July 2022 at UFC 276. He won the match via unanimous decision.
In December 2022, Du Plessis and Darren Till squared off at UFC 282. In the third round, Du Plessis submitted Till to win the bout. Additionally, Du Plessis also won the Fight of the Night award for his performance.
At UFC 285 in March 2023, Derek Brunson squared off against Du Plessis. Du Plessis won the match via technical knockout in the second round.
In July 2023 at UFC 290, Du Plessis competed against former UFC Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in a title eliminator match. He surprisingly won the match in the second round by a technical knockout.
With this victory, he was given the Performance of the Night prize and moved up to the top contender position in the Middleweight category. He’s very likely to get a title shot against ADesanya before the year’s up.
