UFC 319: Why world’s most extreme superstition will end UFC bogeyman

Dricus du Plessis cannot explain why, by the time you read this, he will have already phoned his parents back home in South Africa to say goodbye.

Nor is the UFC middleweight champ sure of when the intense fight day ritual started.

Still the fact, again, it’s been done goes right to the heart of today’s UFC 319 blockbuster.

One where du Plessis is prepared, he says, to kill UFC bogeyman Khamzat Chimaev inside the cage.

Same as he is also prepared to die inside.

Which is why sometime this morning, the champ rang home to tell his folks goodbye.

UFC 319: Du Plessis vs Chimaev | SUN 17 AUG 12PM AEST | UFC Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis puts his title on the line against undefeated Khamzat Chimaev. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports >

“Although exactly when I started doing it – no idea,” the champ told us from Chicago this week.

“Initially, my parents used to be with me for every single fight.

“But once I started travelling, and they couldn’t always come along – the flights being just too far – that’s when I started making that phone call.

“I have the same conversation with my brothers, who are with me here in Chicago right now.

“Because I know anything can happen.

“And to be the greatest you need that mindset.

“Because to do what we do, it takes something special …”

Which again goes to the heart of UFC 319, right?

A headliner no less than Dana White has described as the biggest fight of 2025.

That, and a showdown where the UFC boss, like everyone else, is wondering if DDP is finally the man to bring down that undefeated Chechnyan marauder known universally ‘Borz’.

Which is arse about to how things normally go, right?

Understanding that come most UFC pay-per-view Sundays, the biggest question usually surrounds exactly what Johnny Challenger must do to upset the reigning, defending king.

Yet at the time of writing, du Plessis was the $2.90 TAB outsider – and drifting.

While Chimaev, meanwhile, has been wound in to $1.40.

Which is due in no small part to an undefeated tear stretching seven years, 14 fights and, most recently, a crank sunk so severely onto Australian Robert Whittaker’s jaw it displaced a chunk of his teeth.

Yet in DDP, you have a champion who hasn’t only already outed his willingness to kill a man – which he did earlier this year in Sydney, speaking on the Mark Bouris podcast – but also expects the same mindset from his rivals.

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Quizzed by Fox Sports Australia this week on exactly what makes a fella commit himself to such extremes — particularly on a sporting field – du Plessis admits to having no clue where said mindset comes from.

Still, he insists it greets him every day when he wakes.

“And I don’t know why,” he said.

“I just wake up every day with this burning desire to be great.

“It’s been there ever since I was a kid.

“Which is why I can only put it down to my culture, my parents.

“We have a culture in South Africa of not giving up, of fighting to the absolute end no matter what.

“My parents too, raised me to work my ass off for everything.

“If you want something, go get it.

“And if you fail, well, you didn’t try hard enough.”

And if you think that sounds tougher than most households, you’d be right.

“But my parents raised me to be a champion,” du Plessis shrugged. “To go out, fight and get what we want … and get it at all costs.”

Which again, is why he makes that phone call.

“Because when times get hard, giving up is not an option,” the champ continued. “So if we’re fighting until one of us gives up, it’s not going to be me.”

All of which goes some way to explaining why a fighter whose style has been called awkward, goofy, even likened to a gorilla on roller skates, now tops a Chicago card where the co-main is also a cracker – and likely, boasts immediate implications for Australian MMA.

After rising up to become one of the world’s most hyped featherweights in Bellator, Aaron Pico is now finally switching camps to make his UFC debut – and against undefeated Englishman Lerone Murphy.

With both predicting a KO win, there is a strong chance Sunday’s victor will be catapulted straight into a world showdown with UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski, who is being whispered for a December return in Las Vegas.

Du Plessis meanwhile, is also no stranger to Australian fans, having headlined his most recent two title defence in Sydney and Perth respectively – while also initially earning breakout status via a 2023 win over Robert Whittaker.

Throughout his rise, talk has increasingly centred around the champ’s mental strength.

His ability to win, no matter how awkwardly.

At which point we ask du Plessis about those voices so many athletes get inside their heads.

You know, the one urging them to slow – or outright stop – when things get tough.

Is he immune?

“Oh, no, I get that voice,” he said this week with a laugh.

“And every single time, I silence it.

“For me, that voice is always there — constantly.

“It’s there whenever you have to wake up early, whenever you go through a tough session, or do something you don’t want to do.

“And every time, you tell that voice ‘I will go on’.

“Because that voice doesn’t decide when you stop.

“So you keep saying it, and saying it.

“I will go on.

“You say it until that voice becomes your bitch.”

UFC 319 FIGHT CARD

Main Card

Dricus Du Plessis vs Khamzat Chimaev; for middleweight title

Lerone Murphy vs Aaron Pico; featherweight

Geoff Neal vs Carlos Prates; welterweight

Jared Cannonier vs Michael Page; middleweight

Tim Elliott vs Kai Asakura; flyweight

Prelims

King Green vs Diego Ferreira; lightweight

Gerald Meerschaert vs Michal Oleksiejczuk; middleweight

Jessica Andrade vs Loopy Godinez; women’s strawweight

Chase Hooper vs Alexander Hernandez; lightweight

Edson Barboza vs Drakkar Klose; lightweight

Early prelims

Karine Silva def. Dione Barbosa via unanimous decision; women’s flyweight

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