Combat sports fans were treated to an amazing weekend courtesy of PFL, the UFC, Craig Jones, and ADCC. I could write a million articles about a million things but today I'm most intrigued by how Dricus Du Plessis continues to defy the odds and win fights he's consistently counted out of. Social media is abuzz with numerous takes and opinions ranging from it was rigged (posting coal again are we sir?) to Adesanya was never that good and everything in between. I am going to go over why I think we saw prime Adesanya in this fight, why Du Plessis works, and how to make sense of MMA's most mysterious man currently.
Banana Peels and Wine Bottles
Addressing the elephant in the room is how damn weird and goofy Du Plessis is. He moves and strikes like he's slipping on banana peels after downing three bottles of dry red. How and why is this effective time and time again against world champion level competition? Detractors and negative Nancys will poo poo and say the middleweight division is dead, Whittaker and Adesanya were washed, etc. Here's my take. Du Plessis is taking a note from the old school martial arts. Without making this a history lesson, Drunken boxing or Drunken Fist is an ancient form of traditional Chinese martial arts dating back to the year 1120 roughly. Drunken fist is difficult to assign a time or place to as there are so few surviving historical sources for it and it's largely existed as a loose group of techniques and tactics rather than a large and systematized single art form like karate or it's brother Kung-Fu. Drunken Boxing is just a loose group of Kung Fu styles with it's two main practitioners being Buddhist and Daoist monks. I could nerd out all day about the history and origins of this rich martial arts style. Drunken Boxing is very ingrained in traditional Chinese martial arts and the mythical stories of the Drunken Eight Immortals from Daoist legend are a good starting point for those curious about the cultural and historical impact. How does this pertain to Du Plessis?
Drunken Boxing is exactly what is implied by the name. What makes it unique and sets it apart is the fighter appears drunken. It's all about deception. Historically and in the legends fighters were truly drunk and discovered that this was surprisingly effective. In modern practitioners alcohol consumption is not required but the point remains the same. There is no set stance, no rules governing movement, cross your feet as often as you want, no defensive mechanics such as keep your hands high and feet ready to pick up to check kicks etc. It is literally fight like a drunk person. Starting to seem familiar? You feign instability and lack of coordination, stumble and bob, lose focus, attack from weak and unusual places, capitalize on blind spots and distractions, capitalize on momentum shifts, and lastly make use of improvised and concealed weapons, (not allowed in sport obviously). All of this is Dricus Du Plessis to a T. It's criticized as sloppy and disgusting to look at but it gets the job done time after time. I'm dying to know if Du Plessis is aware of this and makes it a game plan because he's a martial arts nerd. Regardless even if he doesn't call it Drunken Boxing he is unintentionally one of the school's biggest and most well known practitioners, sorry to Eight Immortals, Wu Song, and other ancient developers.
It really started with Whittaker. Beating Whittaker was a shift and the test Du Plessis had to pass to advance. Many, myself included, thought the drunken wine mom boxing shit would finally end. It didn't. Going up against Adesanya, once again, many myself included, thought it would end. Shoutout to GMReport though for inspiration on this, he was a believer. Once again it didn't and here's how and why. As GMReport mentioned on Tapping Vegas and I also alluded to, Adesanya has consistently struggled with goofy guys like Du Plessis and Strickland. I think in combat sports we forget how much fighters like an easy to predict opponent with easy to identify tendencies. It's what I constantly harp on when I say it's better to look at habits as opportunities rather than weaknesses. It's not enough to say for example Adesanya struggles with grappling. A better and more thorough analysis would be something like when engaged in grappling exchanges Adesanya consistently puts himself in situations exposing his back for rear naked chokes and this hasn't evolved much at all. This phrasing and interpretation gives a clear goal and game plan to execute down the road on something that will happen at multiple times throughout the fight as a result of habit. Old habits die hard and when presented with adversity even the toughest and best fighters in the world will especially fall back on old reliable ways of doing things to try and salvage the ship. Adesanya with the exception of Alex Periera, has feasted on textbook kickboxers and in and out karate boxers his entire career. Vettori, Romero, Blachowicz, Strickland, and now Du Plessis are not in that mold and the various degrees of success those respective men had with Adesanya were because that's not how they fought him. The keys to fighting Adesanya were always pressure, crowding his kicks, backing him up to the cage, initiating grappling off striking, and stripping away his defensive layers. This is all easier said than done but let's see how Du Plessis brilliantly executed here.
Thus far if you think this article is a reach and Du Plessis is just a goofy psychopath Forrest Gumping his way through the division I woudn't blame you. Weird styles are truly nightmares in MMA however. Just ask Max Holloway in between rounds of the second Poirier fight where he audibly expressed frustration to his coaches that Poirier was "blocking weird" and giving Max fits. Preparing for a fight is huge in MMA and unique styles are hard to prepare for. Conor McGregor for all his faults was a master of finding sparring partners as close as he could to real opponents. So much so his Nate Diaz partner he brought in for the rematch with Diaz physically looked just like Nate. You need rounds and rounds of preparation for what you will face so there are no surprises. If you don't even know what you're going to do your opponent stands no chance and that's the beauty of Drunken Du Plessis. How do you replicate this? It's an entire style built on the ideas I listed above at the beginning around smoke and mirrors. Du Plessis throws a wild punch and spins like a top but you can't do anything with that? You think you have him hurt and he's suddenly lunging back at you rocking you with drunk uncle BBQ boxing. He plans exceptionally well himself though. What he lacks in technique aesthetics he makes up for in strategy and capitalizing on mistakes.
Adesanya has defensive layers. It's a great strategy and has benefits and drawbacks like everything in the world and once again the most important thing is it creates habits. His stature and reach are the first layer. Keeping you at bay with calf kicks, thigh kicks, body kicks, question mark kicks etc. He uses his longest weapons to reach your closest targets. Paulo Costa was onto something with getting wine drunk the nights before the fight but he put on the most embarrassing performance against Adesanya as he couldn't make it past this first defensive layer. He was easily TKO'd as a result with Adesanya in no danger. His second layer is in reaction to the blitz employed by Gastelum and Whittaker. This is his lean back at the waist and launch counter punches to connect on guys on the way in leading face first securing finishes or knockdowns the majority of the time. The third feeds off the second and this tandem is where Du Plessis was brilliant and fleshed out what Gastelum and Whittaker first discovered. In the transitions between the lean back and the counter realizing this doesn't work Adesanya then retreats. In the vast majority of instances he is very aware of the cage and able to angle off and pivot to have the blitzing fighter charge right past like a matador with a cape and bull. When he's not able to do this though, the results are damning. In the Romero fight, Gastelum fight, Brunson fight, and now Du Plessis fight there were numerous instances of Adesanya losing that spatial awareness of the cage location and being put up against the fence. When this happens he is prone to lose composure and turn his back and run straight away from the charging opponent and try to regain the center cage control. Nine times out of ten in a fight he will remember to not be found in this position by his opponents and up until Gastelum, Romero, and Strickland he wasn't made to pay for it. Going back to strategy and gameplans I'm sure he and his coaches were aware of this and game planned but old habits die hard and it's taken you this far with all the success it's hard to break something so apart of your style. In moments of adversity we revert to old habits and ways of doing things to try and take control. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't when your opponent takes advantage like Du Plessis.
Prime Adesanya Rib
We saw prime Adesanya last night. He wasn't making stupid mistakes, at one point he easily pivoted away from a Du Plessis charge, he was doing damage, and up until the finish was comfortably winning. I'm as strong an Adesanya hater as anyone but he's not washed and was comfortably winning until he wasn't. What gives? Du Plessis is a master of deception and strategy. I'm sure he and his coaches studied Adesanya in depth and noted the defensive layers. They noted success from others against Adesanya and how that was achieved. They took elements of everyone from the blitzes and rushes of Whittaker, Gastelum, and Romero to the grappling of Blachowicz and the funky stylings of Strickland. Du Plessis as a natural fighter was always the antithesis of Adesanya. An awkward grappler who blitzes in, absorbs punishment and keeps going forward, has power in his hands, and most importantly plays stupid. In a vain world obsessed with being smarter than everyone else playing dumber than you are is a skill and a valuable tactic. As long as you can back it up it takes people by surprise when you reveal yourself. Nobody takes you serious and you are lulled into a false sense of security just like Adesanya was. How many fighters have laughed at the drunken style of Du Plessis just to be victimized? Many such cases. Brunson was defeated by this, gassing out after trying to catch Du Plessis blitzing in like Adesanya tried. Whittaker was shocked by the power and guard passing. Till was destroyed by the grappling. He's hard to prepare for. The finishing sequence was beautiful and once again shows how strategic Du Plessis is and how he was given an opportunity that he capitalized and maximized on because any other avenue probably wouldn't have worked.
The Finish
Adesanya is backed up against the cage. He does his Max Holloway and points to stand and bang. Du Plessis immediately obliges and takes advantage of the position of Adesanya. Israel is in that false sense of security and doesn't expect Du Plessis to throw down. Du Plessis charges and rocks him engaging that deep habit of turning his back and running away to create separation he's done in countless fights before. Some of those fights it's succeeded and some it hasn't mind you. What's truly brilliant is taking full advantage of the fully exposed back of Adesanya. Being calm and calculated Du Plessis climbs the back and secures the body triangle immediately and locks in the rear naked. Adesanya never even tries to hand fight or break the untextbook lock that Du Plessis has. Du Plessis once again breaks the tenet by crossing his ankles securing the lock but it's all so fast and sunk in Israel can't fight and try to reverse to defend. He taps. I think Du Plessis was genius in going after the sub. Adesanya hasn't improved from the Blachowicz fight or Periera fights in grappling. I believe if Du Plessis was bloodthirsty and bent on the strikes finish Adesanya would have succeeded in disengaging and surviving to the final round where he likely wins comfortably. Du Plessis is far more strategic and calculated than he lets on, that decision being the best showcase of fight IQ in some time in my opinion. Law 21of the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker. Check it out.
Closing Thoughts
I write these articles for free and available to the public to showcase my love of mixed martial arts and spread knowledge and awareness. I love talking about this as much as I can with all the people I can. One day I hope Du Plessis, his coaches, other fighters and their coaches, etc. will read these and give feedback. The Jack Slacks, the Open Note Grapplers, the Catholic Fightwears, etc. of the world will take note and comment. Mainly to ask Du Plessis if he knows Drunken Boxing and this is a game plan on his part or not. As I said above though, even if he doesn't know about this he's by far the most famous practitioner of those techniques and strategies today. Unintentional or not, Du Plessis is keeping this style alive all by himself and forcing the UFC to take note. Defeating a prime Adesanya hell bent on revenge for perceived wrongs against him is just the latest feather in the cap of Du Plessis, the Drunken Master.
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