Dricus du Plessis wants to train with Robert Whittaker in Sydney ahead of UFC 312 title defence

Dricus du Plessis says he’d love to link up with Robert Whittaker in preparation for his rematch with Sean Strickland, and the South African champ has sent a brutal message to his opponent.

Dricus du Plessis says he’d love to link up with Robert Whittaker during his three-week training camp in Sydney ahead of his middleweight title defence against Sean Strickland at UFC 312.

Du Plessis also revealed Springboks captain Siya Kolisi will make a special trip Down Under to walk him to the Octagon ahead of his hugely anticipated rematch with Strickland.

Du Plessis won the middleweight belt off the loud-mouthed American in Toronto in January, and was escorted to the cage by Kolisi and second-row veteran Eben Etzebeth for his first title defence against Israel Adesanya in Perth in August.

The man they call ‘Still Knocks’ then spent two weeks traveling around Australia, fishing and going to Australia Zoo in Queensland, and is relishing the chance to come back.

Du Plessis wants to train with Rob Whittaker (L). Picture: Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

And the thought of training with Whittaker would make the trip even more special.

“If it’s a possibility, I would love that, it would be incredible,” the 30-year-old told this masthead.

“I would actually love it if we could set that up and maybe I could spend some time with him on the mats and use his facility.

“It would be incredible.

“Even just to talk to him, the man he is – he’s been in the game forever – and there’s so much to learn from a guy like Rob.”

Whittaker was one of du Plessis’ heroes as he was rising through the middleweight ranks, and he burst into title contention with a stunning second round win over ‘The Reaper’ in July 2023.

Whittaker bounced back with wins over Paulo Costa and Ikram Aliskerov and was penciled in to rematch du Plessis in Sydney if he beat Khamzat Chimaev in October.

Chimaev became the first person to ever stop Whittaker in the first round, but du Plessis is confident he’ll cross paths with the Aussie again soon enough.

Du Plessis’ rise to the title began with a win over Whittaker in 2023. Picture: Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

“It’s Robert Whittaker, he’s always right there,” he said. “If Rob gets two wins, he’s right back in the conversation.

“We’ve seen it before with Rob. He climbed the ladder, reached the top, became champion, lost it and came back again.

“We’ve seen Rob fall down and get back up again – that’s why he’s the champion he is. If anyone can get back to the belt, it’s him.”

The build-up between du Plessis and Whittaker was nothing but respectful last year, but that couldn’t be further from the truth ahead of DDP’s split-decision win over Strickland.

Vile insults and death threats were hurled back-and-forth, and Strickland even tried to attack du Plessis in the crowd at UFC 296.

But the middleweight champ says Strickland’s bark far outweighs his bite once the cage door closes.

“He talks about fighting to the death, but walks backwards and teep kicks and jabs,” he said. “I’ve never seen somebody kill anyone like that.

The South African won a hard-fought split decision over Strickland in January. Picture: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

“Some guys like Strickland need to act tough, but then end up crying on a podcast. For me, it’s easy, you can respect me, or you can pay the consequences.

“I have all the respect in the world for Strickland as a fighter, but he’s very safe, and very boring.

“He’s exciting on the mic, but he wins split decisions.”

Du Plessis also revealed there are also plans in place to have two-time World Cup winning Springboks captain Kolisi make a special trip to Sydney for fight week.

“We’re probably going to do that again,” he said. “I spoke to the guys yesterday actually, and it looks like we might be able to actually make it happen.

“Siya’s a great captain – the best captain in world rugby by far. And he’s an even better guy, he’s incredible.”

Originally published as Dricus du Plessis wants to train with Robert Whittaker in Sydney ahead of UFC 312 title defence