5 times Dricus du Plessis silenced a UFC rival with a perfectly savage comeback

Over the past few years, Dricus du Plessis has been one of the most underrated trash talkers in the sport of MMA. His confidence, oratorship, and nonchalance seem to catch most of his foes off guard.

Du Plessis outpointed and dethroned Sean Strickland back in January 2024. Presently, du Plessis is booked to defend his UFC middleweight title in a rematch against Strickland at UFC 312 on Feb. 8, 2025 (Feb. 9, 2025 local time in Australia).

Heading into the much-awaited showdown, today we look at some of du Plessis' best jibes -- a few instances wherein he savagely shut down jibe(s) from his UFC rivals.

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#5 Dricus du Plessis lambasts Darren Till after 'coaching' advice to Israel Adesanya

In August 2024, Dricus du Plessis' former opponent, Darren Till, took to X and advised Israel Adesanya. Some of Till's suggestions included utilizing feints, standing his ground, and countering du Plessis in their UFC 305 fight.

Speaking to the media during UFC 305 fight week, du Plessis responded by jibing at Till for briefly being out-grappled in a post-fight brawl by Mohammad Mutie after their exhibition boxing match in July 2024. He also recounted how he'd himself submitted Till in their MMA bout in 2022.

Lambasting 'The Gorilla' over attempting to coach Adesanya against him, du Plessis stated:

"I mean, the man [Darren Till] got taken down by a boxer. Maybe try and, you know, practice what you preach, man. The man couldn't stop a single takedown. The man said he won two rounds. He didn't win two rounds. He's crazy. I finished him, out-struck him, took him down, finished him in the third round ... The man's in a downward spiral. And, hopefully, this coaching gig works out for him. But what I saw in terms of how easy it would be to beat me, why didn't he do it?"

Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments about Till below (18:14):

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#4 Ice-cold response to UFC superstar Alex Pereira's call-out

Dricus du Plessis successfully defended his UFC middleweight championship with a fourth-round submission victory against combat sports megastar Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in August 2024.

Ex-UFC middleweight champion and reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who's 3-1 against Adesanya in kickboxing and MMA overall, subsequently expressed interest in returning to middleweight and fighting du Plessis for the belt.

During the UFC 305 post-fight press conference, du Plessis responded to Pereira's call-out by counter-proposing that he'd rather move up in weight and take the UFC light heavyweight title off the Brazilian superstar. He also implied that if 'Poatan' were to lose to him, he and his supporters would blame the loss on the grueling weight cut to middleweight.

Additionally, 'Stillknocks' jabbed at Pereira, who at that time was booked to defend his light heavyweight belt against the relatively lower-ranked Khalil Rountree Jr. In an ice-cold retort to Pereira, du Plessis said:

"I, honestly, don't think Alex Pereira should drop down to 185. If he wants to, great. Perfect. But then we're going to hear the excuses ... We saw 'Izzy' [Israel Adesanya] stiffen that man ... So, stay at 205 [pounds], fight your fight against the number-seven-ranked guy. Oh, number eight. Okay."

Watch du Plessis' comeback to Pereira's call-out below (8:42):

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#3 Dricus du Plessis' two-word retaliation against Islam Makhachev

Reigning UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has long maintained that he'd like to become a two-division champion, perhaps even go for three-division champion status. Makhachev hinted at possibly fighting UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, who's often trained with him and other Dagestani fighters over the past few years.

Muhammad has time and again clarified that he'd rather not fight Makhachev and has instead suggested that the lightweight kingpin could skip a weight class and move to middleweight to dethrone Dricus du Plessis. For his part, du Plessis famously jibed at Muhammad's allegedly underwhelming fan following.

Also, du Plessis affirmed that Makhachev would be wise to stay away from middleweight. Additionally, during a recent interview with Shakiel Mahjouri, du Plessis was asked to give a one-word answer to seeing Makhachev talking about possibly fighting him at middleweight.

In what many feel is one of his most savage comebacks ever, du Plessis alluded to an oft-discussed narrative that Makhachev isn't as great as his longtime training partner and ex-UFC lightweight champion, fellow Dagestani Khabib Nurmagomedov. 'Stillknocks' said:

"Almost Khabib."

Watch Dricus du Plessis' concise comment below (14:00):

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#2 Dricus du Plessis' press conference battle against Israel Adesanya

After their fight at UFC 305, Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya seemingly settled their bitter rivalry, which had included their fiery debates about being the first 'real African' UFC champion.

During the UFC 305 pre-fight press conference, du Plessis and Adesanya chimed in on certain oddsmakers having the latter as the underdog for the fight. When 'Izzy' addressed it, du Plessis made an allusion to the Nigeria-born Kiwi's reportedly questionable actions with his dog. The South African said:

"Nobody said anything about dogs, bro. Chill out."

Adesanya hit back by highlighting a criticism against du Plessis' coach, Morne Visser of the CIT Performance Institute, indicating that Visser controversially used a taser to correct his students' mistakes. A few minutes later, Adesanya outlined his plans to tour multiple countries after winning the title.

'Stillknocks' promptly referenced an assertion Adesanya made in an old video about having servants while growing up. Also, when Adesanya angrily warned him that he doesn't know about his story, du Plessis stated that he didn't care about his story:

"Are you taking the servants with you when you're going back? Are you taking the servants with you if you're going back? ... I don't care about your story."

Adesanya, who's long been beheld as a tough-to-beat foe on the microphone, shed tears during the press conference segment, after du Plessis' jibes.

Watch the segments below (17:42 and 19:02):

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#1 Dricus du Plessis shuts down Sean Strickland

Sean Strickland has gained a reputation for making polarizing statements, whereas Dricus du Plessis is known to generally be respectful and cordial.

However, during the UFC 2024 seasonal press conference, which transpired in December 2023, du Plessis craftily outdid Strickland in the trash talk department. In response to du Plessis implying that Strickland had an underwhelming finish rate in his fights, the American replied by jabbing at his rival's bond with his coach:

"Go f**k your coach, you fa**ot"

Dricus du Plessis smiled and questioned why Sean Strickland was "looking so sad."

A few minutes later, Strickland made an NSFW assertion, stating du Plessis would get "finished" on fight night by his coach. The South African replied by bringing up Strickland's tumultuous relationship with his father:

"Bro, why are you so angry? Bro, you think your dad beat the sh** out of you? Your dad doesn't have sh** on me. I'm gonna show you what it's like to beat you. All, every childhood memory you have is gonna come back when I'm in there with you. Every single one. The one where you lie in bed at night, where your dad comes in and he beats the sh** out of you."

Strickland threatened to take du Plessis' soul, while the latter laughed hysterically and emphasized that he'd struck a nerve and rattled 'Tarzan.' In the ensuing days, Strickland claimed that he subsequently threatened to stab du Plessis if he ever brought up his troubled childhood again.

Meanwhile, 'Stillknocks' affirmed that he wouldn't rake up that topic and would simply focus on the fight. Furthermore, Strickland later cried while addressing his childhood on comedian Theo Von's podcast. Ultimately, du Plessis defeated Strickland via split decision at UFC 297 in January 2024 and was crowned the middleweight champion.

Watch their exchanges below (23:20 and 28:10):