By The Numbers: Dricus Du Plessis

Dricus Du Plessis sits atop the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight mountain and scans the horizon for would-be successors.

The South African brute extended his reign as the undisputed king of the 185-pound weight class with a face crank submission of City Kickboxing superstar and two-time champion Israel Adesanya in the fourth round of their UFC 305 headliner on Aug. 17 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. Du Plessis has now rattled off 10 consecutive victories, eight of them finishes. That includes his perfect 8-0 record in the UFC.

As Du Plessis awaits word on his next challenger, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied him to this point:

30: Years of age for Du Plessis, who was born on Jan. 14, 1994 in Welkom, South Africa—more than 10,000 miles from UFC headquarters in Las Vegas.

9: Du Plessis wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 41% of his career total (22). His list of UFC victims: Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson, Trevin Giles and Markus Perez. Du Plessis owns 11 other wins by submission (50%) and two more by decision (9%).

78: Seconds needed for Du Plessis to put away Tshikangu Makuebo in his pro debut under the Extreme Fighting Championship banner on July 25, 2013. More than a decade later, it remains his fastest finish to date.

137: Significant strikes landed by Du Plessis when he captured the undisputed middleweight crown with a contentious five-round split decision over Sean Strickland in the UFC 297 headliner. Strickland connected with 173 of them. However, Du Plessis managed to make up the difference—at least in two of the three judges’ eyes—with six takedowns and two-plus minutes of control time.

200,000: Dollars in post-fight bonuses pocketed by Du Plessis across his eight assignments in the UFC. He has been awarded “Fight of the Night” on two occasions and “Performance of the Night” on two others.

12: Consecutive calendar years in which Du Plessis has fought at least once. In addition to his 2-0 mark in 2024, he went 3-0 in 2013, 1-1 in 2014, 3-0 in 2015, 2-0 in 2016, 2-0 in 2017, 1-1 in 2018, 2-0 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020, 1-0 in 2021, 2-0 in 2022 and 2-0 in 2023.

2,153: Days since Du Plessis last suffered a defeat. Roberto Soldic was the perpetrator, as he took care of the Team CIT rep with punches in the third round of their confrontation at KSW 45 on Oct. 6, 2018.

20: Takedowns secured by Du Plessis since he joined the UFC roster in 2020. He completes them at a 50% success rate despite a 0-for-7 effort in a three-round unanimous decision over “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 11 semifinalist Brad Tavares at UFC 276.

7: Countries in which Du Plessis has plied his mixed martial arts trade. He has gone 12-1 in his native South Africa, 5-0 in the United States, 1-1 in England, 1-0 in Australia, 1-0 in Poland, 1-0 in the United Arab Emirates and 1-0 in Canada.

33: Combined victories between the two men—Soldic and Gareth McClellan—who have beaten Du Plessis. They boast a .750 cumulative winning percentage at 33-11.