Former UFC champion apologizes to Dricus du Plessis for underestimating him going into UFC 290 – “Shame on me”

Henry Cejudo recently heaped praise on Dricus du Plessis for his masterful performance against Robert Whittaker at UFC 290. The former two-division champion also apologized to the South African star for underestimating his skills and shared some advice for his next fight. 

‘The Reaper’ has long been considered the second-best middleweight in the UFC after Israel Adesanya. When the promotion announced du Plessis vs. Whittaker in a title eliminator last weekend, many dismissed the South African’s chances against the Australian. However, Dricus du Plessis put on an incredible performance against Robert Whittaker and secured a sensational second-round TKO victory. 

In a recent video uploaded to Twitter, Henry Cejudo apologized to ‘Stillknocks’ for being one of the doubters. ‘Triple C’ stated:

“First of all, I want to apologize to you, du Plessis. I did not believe that you could beat Robert Whittaker… Shame on me… The fact that you were able to stop this dude in a round and a half. Kudos to you.” 

Cejudo then shared some advice with du Plessis for his inevitable title fight against Israel Adesanya:

“I think you need to have a good game plan. I think the biggest thing with du Plessis is, he cannot stay in kicking range with Israel Adesanya. If I was in your position du Plessis, I would create positions to get ‘Stylebender’ to throw hands… I do believe Israel’s greatest weapon is his kicks.” 

Bo Nickal opens up about a potential fight against Dricus du Plessis 

Bo Nickal recently weighed in on a potential fight against Dricus du Plessis and the fast-rising middleweight contender is confident of beating the South African. 

Nickal and du Plessis are undoubtedly two of the most exciting fighters to watch in the UFC’s middleweight division. While ‘The Allen Assassin’ is an exceptional grappling phenom with thunderous striking at his disposal, ‘Stillknocks’ recently silenced his haters with a statement second-round TKO victory against former champion Robert Whittaker. 

While a Bo Nickal vs. Dricus du Plessis matchup promises to get combat sports fans excited, the three-time NCAA D1 wrestling champion doesn’t think it’s a major challenge for him. 

In a recent interview with Full Send MMA, Nickal opined that he’d breeze past du Plessis and stated:

“Hats off to him. I feel like I respect Whittaker a lot. He’s such a tough dude. But, yeah, he [du Plessis] got it done. That’s a fight that I’ll have eventually, I’m sure. I don’t know that he beats the champion, but, you know, I’m sure we’ll fight, and I think that’s easy money for me.”