A violent striker in the UFC left his opponent's face looking a bloody mess during International Fight Week
Photo by Getty Images
- Brad Tavares was a bloody mess during his middleweight fight against Dricus du Plessis.
- South African striker du Plessis fought well Saturday at UFC 276 in Las Vegas.
- Du Plessis pummeled Tavares so well, it seemed to change his hair color.
LAS VEGAS — UFC's violent striker Dricus du Plessis left his opponent's face looking a bloody mess in their prelim fight at the end of International Fight Week.
Du Plessis, a 28-year-old orthodox kickboxer, fought 34-year-old Hawaiian fighter Brad Tavares in a middleweight showdown Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Though the official result was a unanimous decision with three scores of 29-28 for du Plessis, it did not tell the full story of just how exciting — but flawed — du Plessis is.
Photo by Getty Images
He's an exceptional striker but he's seemingly so gung-ho with his approach that, if he were matched with a competent counter-striker, it might not be long before he ate shots in return.
Du Plessis landed a mighty 123 shots from 222 strike attempts for a 55% accuracy rate — a similar ratio to Tavares who landed 98 from 167 shots for a 58% accuracy.
Combined, the 185-pound fighters threw 389 shots which works out as approximately 26 shots per minute of action.
—ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 3, 2022
The action was so frenetic that not only did Tavares' face change color because of all the blood leaking from multiple lacerations, particularly on his nose, but his hair seemed to change, too.
Photo by Getty Images
With victory, du Plessis advanced his pro MMA record to 17 wins (seven knockouts, nine submissions, and one decision) against two losses.
Earlier in the show, Julija Stoliarenko appeared to snap Jessica-Rose Clark's arm with a violent, 42-second submission win in their women's bantamweight bout.
The UFC 276 event was topped by a middleweight championship bout between reigning champion Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier.
Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway fought an iconic trilogy bout for the Australian's featherweight UFC title.