MMA can be a cruel sport sometimes. One moment you are the king of the mountain, the next moment, you are flat on your back wondering what to do. That’s exactly what happened to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319, where he lost his middleweight title to Khamzat Chimaev in devastating fashion. The South African fighter who had looked so dominant in his previous title defenses suddenly found himself completely overwhelmed by Chimaev’s relentless wrestling attack.<\/p>
For months leading up to the fight, Du Plessis and his team knew they were facing something special in Chimaev. The Chechen fighter had been steamrolling through opponents with his suffocating grappling style. His ability to take opponents down and control them on the ground was already legendary in MMA<\/a> circles. Du Plessis had built his reputation as a striker with a weird style, who could knock anyone out cold, but everyone knew this fight would likely end up on the canvas. Now, in the aftermath of that crushing defeat, coach Morne Visser has finally opened up about what went wrong and what comes next for his star pupil.<\/p> Visser didn’t sugarcoat the reality of their preparation when he sat down for his first interview with Submission Radio since the loss. His team had dedicated most of their training camp to wrestling, knowing full well that Chimaev would try to drag Du Plessis into deep waters on the ground. They spent countless hours working on takedown defense, scrambles, and getting back to their feet. But as Visser admitted with brutal honesty, they had practiced everything except the one position that ended up costing them the fight: the crucifix.<\/p> “W<\/strong>𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙭… 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙆𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙯𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤. 𝙃𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝘿𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙛****ng <\/strong>𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙩. 𝙎𝙤 𝙄’𝙢 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝘼𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙪𝙨.”<\/em><\/p>Dricus Du Plessis Practiced Everything Except What Mattered!<\/h2>