Dricus Du Plessis has credited Conor McGregor’s ‘mental warfare’ for making MMA ‘more famous than the sport itself’.
Du Plessis, 31, also praised McGregor for ‘changing the narrative’ on pay in MMA, citing that as the one of the main reasons why all fighters should respect him.
The South African rematches Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 312 in what will be the second defence of his middleweight title reign.
Du Plessis won UFC gold for the first time by defeating Strickland at UFC 297 last January and defended it by submitting Israel Adesanya seven months later.
As he prepares for his huge clash this Sunday in Sydney, Australia, du Plessis has recalled how McGregor, 36, helped his mindset shift when he was emerging through the ranks as a young MMA fighter.
“There’s a lot of controversy around the man, 100%, but…whether you hate him or love him, you’ve got to respect what the man has done and achieved in the sport,” du Plessis told Mark Bouris.
“People look at Conor McGregor now, they’re like: ‘oh, he’s done.’ Well, if he is done, good on him.
“Good on him. Because I’ve been a fan of his for very long. I was still up and coming when he burst on the scene.
“My second fight in the UFC was on the undercard of Conor vs Dustin Poirier – the third fight.
“And before that, when he burst on the scene, he almost changed the game in terms of mentality.
“Bringing in mental warfare, [but] not only saying nasty s***, no. Bringing in mental warfare as a tactic.”
Du Plessis added that he began practicing McGregor’s unique mentality at the age of just 21 that enabled him to approach his fights differently.
Dricus Du Plessis’ last five fights in the UFC
Unstoppable
- Win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in August 2024 via fourth-round submission (first title defence)
- Win over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January 2024 via split decision (won UFC middleweight title)
- Win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 in July 2023 via second-round KO/TKO
- Win over Derek Brunson at UFC 285 in March 2023 via second-round KO/TKO
- Win over Darren Till at UFC 282 in December 2022 via third-round submission
“So I immediately took to it and said: ‘This is an area, especially locally where I was fighting at that stage, where people don’t even consider this,” he said.
“People just go: ‘Two people are fighting,’ but the mental aspect of his creates, makes people crush.
“It crushes people, it builds people. I see people in the gym all the time, great fighters, world champion fighters, can’t win a fight in front of people or when the lights are shining.
“He brought that to light.”
Having previously fought in South African MMA promotion, Extreme Fighting Championship, du Plessis made his UFC debut in October 2020, securing a victory by knocking out Markus Perez in the first round.
He has since gone unbeaten in Dana White‘s promotion en route to winning his first UFC title while also becoming one of the league’s most popular fighters.
“When I started this sport, I said: ‘I hope I make enough money so I can eat, but I don’t need to eat, I just need to be world champion,’” du Plessis concluded.
“He [McGregor] changed the game so it doesn’t have to be like that. He made the sport more famous than the sport itself.
“Worldwide. Everybody knows who Conor McGregor is. If you love himor hate him, he was an incredible fighter. He did what no man before him could do.
“He beat Jose Aldo, who was my favourite all-time fighter at that stage.
“He was the pound-for-pound number one and McGregor beat him in 13 seconds knockout.
“Then he goes on to become the first double division champion in an absolute clinical display against Eddie Alvarez.
“And people forget about that immediately now because it’s been a while.
“The man [is] sitting on his yacht – jeez. It’s kind of east to sit here and judge but I think everybody’s kind of jealous of that.
“And yeah, I mean the man’s done some controversial stuff, but that’s a completely different story as the Conor McGregor as an athlete.
“You have to give that man all the respect and thanks as fighters because of what happened to this sport because of him.”
“And the raise in pay. It’s as simple as that because of somebody like him who changed the narrative.”
UFC 312 also has Zhang Weili defending her strawweight title against Tatiana Suarez in the co-main event, while Justin Tafa, Jimmy Crute and Jake Matthews all feature on the main card too.