Reported prose from our newsroom. Top-control wrestler
Dricus Du Plessis headlines in Oklahoma City with a 9-1 UFC record across 10 appearances. The South African is coming off the first loss of his UFC tenure, a unanimous decision against Khamzat Chimaev in August 2025. Before that, Du Plessis put together the run that defined his career: a unanimous decision over Sean Strickland in February 2025, a submission of Israel Adesanya in August 2024 and a split-decision win over Strickland in January 2024. Known for an unorthodox, high-output style that drags opponents into deep water, Du Plessis wins with pace and durability rather than polish. The Chimaev loss was his first setback in the promotion, and he returns to headline against a former welterweight champion moving up in weight. He faces Kamaru Usman in a middleweight main event in Oklahoma City.
The facts, plainly — vitals and record from public UFC statistics; nickname, nationality, hometown and camp from the public fighter register. A field we can't source stays “pending”; it never shows a fake value.
| Nickname | Stillknocks |
| Nationality | South Africa |
| Hometown | Pretoria, Gauteng |
| Fighting out of | Team CIT |
| Height | 6' 1" |
| Reach | 76.0" |
| Stance | Switch |
| Age | 32 |
| Date of birth | Jan 14, 1994 |
| Weight | 185 lbs. |
| Pro record | 23-3 |
| Finish split | pending |
Six 0–100 scores, each a percentile rank against every fighter on record. Tap any i for what a score measures.
The moat — every call we've made on this fighter, timestamped and graded in public. Nobody else can copy this.
FightIQ has picked Dricus Du Plessis 6×, 6 correct (6-0 — 100% right). The confidence % is the number we stood behind at the time — losses shown, toss-ups included.
| Date | Opponent | Card | We said | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-18 | Kamaru Usman | Du Plessis vs Usman | 54.3% | Correct |
| 2025-02-08 | Sean Strickland | UFC Fight Night: Nolan vs Borshchev | 67.8% | Correct |
| 2024-08-17 | Israel Adesanya | UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs Hooker | 59.2% | Correct |
| 2024-01-20 | Sean Strickland | UFC Fight Night: Robertson vs Viana | 59.8% | Correct |
| 2023-07-08 | Robert Whittaker | UFC Fight Night: Nickal vs Woodburn | 50.5% | Correct |
| 2023-03-04 | Derek Brunson | UFC Fight Night: Araujo vs Ribas | 70.7% | Correct |
Where the strikes go — and where they land on him. Career UFC totals, straight off the tape.
Significant strikes only, as recorded by UFCStats, across the fighter's whole UFC career. Shares are raw counts — nothing here is modelled or smoothed. Accuracy is landed ÷ attempted and comes from the per-round tape, which covers slightly fewer fights than the totals do.
Pro record: 23-3. Timeline below is the bouts FightIQ has tracked (most recent first).
