South Africa’s Dricus Du Plessis Gears Up for Big UFC Fight, Will Face America’s Brad Tavares in July

• South Africa's Dricus du Plessis will enter the octagon for the third time when he competes at UFC 276
• Dricus du Plessis will face the United States of America's Brad Tavares in a middleweight fight at UFC 276
• Dricus du Plessis is undefeated in the UFC and will be looking to keep that streak going in July when he fights Brad Tavares

In July, one of South Africa’s most dominant mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, Dricus du Plessis, will finally return to the Octagon.

Du Plessis, who has two wins and no losses in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), will take on America’s Brad Tavares.

Africa is well represented in the UFC, with three champions all boasting African heritage. Israel Adesanya (Nigeria), Kamaru Usman (Nigeria) and Francis Ngannou (Cameroon) all hold gold in the organisation.

Du Plessis has been dominant in his two outings thus far, winning both by knockout, MMAFighting reported. He was set to fight in April at UFC 273, but unfortunately, injuries to his opponents meant that Dricus did not get his shot.

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He was initially scheduled to fight Chris Curtis on 9 April, and when Curtis withdrew, the UFC replaced him with Anthony Henandez.

The former middleweight champion, Kelvin Gastellum, was without an opponent at the pay per view, and Du Plessis was announced as his opponent.

Gastellum then withdrew with an undisclosed injury, and the South African was left without a fight for the night, ESPN Africa reported.

A former Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) champion, Du Plessis, will be looking to hold gold in the UFC. Tavares is ranked 12th in the middleweight division, and a win over him will see Du Plessis get one step closer to that top ten rankings.

Israel Adesanya defends his middleweight title, defeats Robert Whittaker by unanimous decision to retain the belt

Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya is still the Undisputed Fighting Championship’s (UFC) Middleweight Champion. The Last Stylebender beat Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC 271 at the Toyota Centre in Houston, USA, Sports Brief monitored.

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Adesanya beat Whittaker in 2019 to win the Middleweight title, and he hasn’t dropped the belt since. During their highly anticipated rematch, Adesanya got his title defence off to the perfect start when he landed a straight punch that dropped Whittaker to the floor.

The Last Stylebender wasn’t only threatening with his punches, though. His devastating kicks also gave Robert Whittaker cause for concern. During the first round alone, Adesanya landed over 10 kicks.