Preview: UFC 285 Prelims

Middleweights

#10 MW | Dricus Du Plessis (18-2, 4-0 UFC) vs. #5 MW | Derek Brunson (23-8, 14-6 UFC)

ODDS: Du Plessis (-240), Brunson (+200)

It seems like Brunson’s late-career renaissance will fall just short of a title shot, but it has still been a pleasure to see. Brunson’s career has been an interesting journey. Mostly a blanketing wrestler for the earlier part of his run, Brunson slowly pivoted to becoming an overaggressive knockout artist, culminating in a wild performance and complete implosion against Robert Whittaker at the tail end of 2016. That led to a strange time when Brunson would either run over older vets like Daniel Kelly and Lyoto Machida or completely derail himself against better competition. Somewhere around 2019, Brunson began to right the ship. Brunson has been able to tamp down the aggression into something more effective, rediscovering his wrestling in the process, and most importantly, he has been able to keep things together when things go south, even outlasting the occasional opponent like Edmen Shahbazyan. The end result was a five-fight winning streak that had Brunson on the verge of championship contention until a loss to Jared Cannonier in early 2022. Brunson put in a game effort but just simply got tired trying to outwrestle one of the strongest fighters in the division, eventually suffering a late finish. There has been retirement talk from Brunson that seemed on the verge of happening, but it appears he will be in it for a longer haul, at least for the time being. He now looks to hold serve against the surging du Plessis.

Du Plessis is undefeated in four UFC fights after a highly successful international career, so he is certainly someone to watch, though it still seems a bit surprising that what “Stillknocks” brings to the table actually works. Du Plessis is an awkward striker who can also be messy on the mat, but he is a testament to athleticism, power and sheer persistence. The South African’s game might not be pretty, but he hits like a truck and will keep trying things for the better part of 15 minutes. Defensively lax opponents like Markus Perez and Trevin Giles unsurprisingly charged into du Plessis’ knockout power, and he outpaced Brad Tavares in July for his first breakout win, However, it was his December victory over Darren Till that essentially summed up the du Plessis experience, as the two collided into each other for what was basically a series of car crashes until Till wound up broken and defeated. The more reckless version of Brunson would almost certainly lose this fight, and even if the American keeps his composure, there is still a solid chance that du Plessis finds a finish via the variety of ideas that he throws out. Still, the bet is that Brunson can rely on his wrestling to grind out a lot of this fight early and stay ahead on the scorecards, even if he will probably be forced into pure survival mode later on. The pick is Brunson via decision.

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