Dricus Du Plessis may have made Israel Adesanya cry in the lead-up to their iconic UFC 305 title clash. This may make some believe that ‘DDP’ had the upper hand in the mental warfare going into the clash, but that isn’t true. In reality, the middleweight champ was a bundle of nerves, more nervous than he has been for any other fight in his life, as he told Demetrious Johnson in a recent interview.

“So, I mean for six years, the man [Izzy] has been at the top of the pile. And he’s been the benchmark of what you need to be to be the best in the world. I’ve said this before, the nerves for that fight was something, I would say the most nervous I’ve been for a fight, even more nervous than when fighting for the title itself. Purely because knowing the pedigree of the man I’m fighting,” Du Plessis admitted.

“You’re fighting a guy who can literally, with one mistake, put your lights out. A lot of guys you fight you know are really good. But you know, you could get away with certain things because you can take one or two punches and afford a few mistakes. A guy like Izzy, if you shoot at the wrong time, if your guard is wrong at the wrong time then with his accuracy and his sniping style, he can put your lights out,” the current 185lbs gold standard added.

This is a genuine and high praise from Du Plessis, who speaks his mind. And it is a testament to just how good Adesanya is. After all, ‘Izzy’ was 1-2 coming into the fight in his last three. In fact, the Kiwi-Nigerian was coming off a horrible loss to Sean Strickland, whom Du Plessis had defeated to win the title.

But even then the South African was worried about making even one mistake, that is how scary Adesanya is as an opponent. In fact, Adesanya was looking pretty good in the Du Plessis fight. The Yoruba was actually dominating the fourth round before Du Plessis suddenly took him down and submitted him. But for now, Du Plessis has bigger fish to fry.

Dricus Du Plessis’ ambitious goals for his future

Dricus Du Plessis is going to make his second title defense this weekend at UFC 312. The South African champ will take on Sean Strickland, and run back their incredibly close UFC 297 clash on the Australia card. But that is just one and perhaps the smallest ‘goal’ Du Plessis has for his future

“The goal to be champion is one but there are many more to come. I also want to go up and get another belt and ultimately be seen as the greatest fighter to ever walk this earth,” ‘DDP’ told McKenzie Pavacich in a recent interview.

While another win over Strickland may not move the needle much, the future does seem promising. After all, Khamzat Chimaev, the most hyped fighter in the history of the sport is the next man up for a title shot. If ‘DDP’ beats him and takes his ‘O’, that would be a really big win on his resume. This is also a very good time for the South African to think of a second belt, too.

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Alex Pereira, after all, is champion one division above ‘DDP’. A win over him for the light heavyweight title could well get the ball rolling on getting Du Plessis into the GOAT conversation. At the margins at least. But then again, ‘DDP’ is only 31 and will have plenty of time to build on these wins and firmly place himself in the GOAT conversation.

But first, he needs to get through Sean Strickland at UFC 312. And if their first fight is any indication, that will not be easy. What do you think about Du Plessis’ high praise for Adesanya?