Dricus Du Plessis has supported Conor McGregor as one of his five biggest all time in the UFC.
In the last week of preparation for his UFC 312 title defense against Sean Strickland, 'Still Knocks' is surprisingly booked the rematch instead of giving Khamzat Chimaev the title shot.
For his second title defense, Dricus Du Plessis was involved in a short feud with lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, which is generally considered the Pound-for-Pond best hunter on the planet.
Read more: Dricus du Plessis is planning to celebrate Sean Strickland on UFC 312 by breaking the famous beer drink result
Photo by Paul Kane/Getty images
Du Plessis supports Conor McGregor while calling a five-man goat list
Prior to its UFC 312 title defense, the South African champion has already defeated one hunter that is generally considered one of the largest middleweight hunters of all time, Israel Adesanya.
Read more: Israel Adesanya explains 'I'll Be Back' in the first message since UFC Saudi -Arabia
Nevertheless, if Du Plessis hopes to catch up with Adesanya and Anderson Silva, he still has many title defenses to go.
And with that the middleweight champion has mentioned its four -member list of all time, surprising, including former UFC Double Champion, Conor McGregor.
Du Plessis claimed that despite the controversy around the Irishman and his career at the moment and whether he will return to the Octagon, he must be welcomed for what he has done before.
“When he is ready, good for him, I have been a fan of him for a long time, I was still coming when he burst on stage,” Du Plessis began to explain to the podcast with a straight talk.
“Goat list, that's a difficult one. I mean, you can never deny the great Jones, never, never … He is certainly the best of all time, you can't deny that.
“Then, of course, Conor McGregor, a huge inspiration for me in terms of how he changed the sport, how he approached the sport, he is a great inspiration when I was young and how to approach it.
“The man who brought me into the sport was Mirko Cro Cop for the K1 days, at least, I started, he was in the UFC, but he was already 40 years old, he was incredible.
“Anderson Silva was the man who, the highlights of the highlights where I (looked up), you have of course seen me, it doesn't look like Anderson Silva, but I always tried,” Du Plessis continued.
The last choice of the middleweight champion, however, came as a huge surprise when he chose the former Welterweight Challenger, Gilbert Burns,.
“Then one of my favorite hunters, a man I have trained and a man I know, one of the nicest people too and he is also for everything, Gilbert Burns … how I see that that is just the work ethics of that Man, “said du Plessis.
Du Plessis explains why Alex Pereira misses his goat list
Despite mentioning burns on his goat list, the South African omitted the current light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira.
Although 'Patan' only came to the UFC in 2021 and was not very experienced in MMA, he quickly rose to Supersterfom and he is the biggest active star of the promotion, which has won both middleweight and light heavyweight gold.
Du Plessis, however, has admitted that he does not enter his goat list because of the fact that he sees him as a rival. Pereira will be part of the STRICKland corner team for his UFC 312 title fight against Du Plessis.
'How is it going to feel in the corner of Sean Strickland again? Ask him that. Tell him, one day when we fight he will be 0-2. When we are talking about my goat list, I can't call him because he is a potential opponent … I think he is one of the biggest combat athletes that ever live, “Du Plessis admitted.
Comments