Dricus Du Plessis‘ coach disagrees with Kamaru Usman‘s complaints throughout the UFC Fight Night 281 headliner.
Du Plessis (24-3 MMA, 10-1 UFC) gave Usman all he could handle on the feet this past Saturday at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Usman (21-5 MMA, 16-4 UFC) was badly hurt on multiple occasions, but Morne Visser revealed the strategy was not to hunt for the finish.
Advertisement
Usman asked the referee to intervene during the fight when claiming that he was poked in the eye then later struck with a low blow.
“The game plan was 100 percent to completely stay composed, and that’s what (Du Plessis) did,” Visser told Submission Radio. “Obviously he listens very well to me, so I’ve never ever pushed him through the whole fight to push for the finish. I saw that Kamaru does recover very quickly after getting hit that hard and punched that hard in the face. I mean, he was out a couple of times on his feet, but I shouted very loudly to Dricus just to stay composed and pick the shots because a guy who recovers that quickly is dangerous. He’s desperate.
“So, I am super, super happy with our results. I think this is the best I’ve seen Dricus ever or the world has seen him ever. This was a high-pressure fight. I mean, this was our comeback fight after 10, 11 months off. So, I’m very happy. And he listened. We never pushed for anything. We never pushed once for the finish, not even once. I mean, you saw Kamaru complaining about a low blow and the thumb or the finger, all nonsense. Dricus could have finished him there, but he was just not pushing. He was just respectful.”
Du Plessis rebounded from his lopsided middleweight title loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319, where he was heavily outgrappled and held down for five rounds.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dricus Du Plessis’ coach: Kamaru Usman’s foul calls ‘all nonsense’
