THE RIGHT CALL? South Africa's UFC champions Dricus du Plessis has voiced his support for Donald Trump, despite the US President's anti-SA stance. Pictures: AFP
Image: AFP
UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis has nailed his colours to the mast, and that flag is the USA as he has voiced his support of Donald Trump.
Du Plessis wore a T-shirt which read "Trump prefers champions” at a press conference on Wednesday, ahead of his title defence against Sean Strickland in Sydney on Sunday.
This comes after Trump announced that he planned to cut funding to SA pending an investigation into alleged confiscation of land from white farmers. Trump also accused South Africa of treating”‘certain classes of people” badly. SA-born Elon Musk, and proud Trump supporter, also chimed in by saying President Cyril Ramaphosa had “openly racist laws”.
All these claims have been refuted by the SA government.
This is not an issue that Du Plessis is unfamiliar with, as he sought to bring light to the issue of farm murders in 2020 at the height of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
“South Africa is going through so much. Farm murders are taking the whole country by storm,” said Du Plessis at the time.
“People are getting murdered daily. Nobody in the world really knows what’s going on there. Stay strong, we can beat this battle. Let’s stop the farm murders, I want the world to see what’s happening in South Africa. It’s one of the most beautiful countries in the world that is being ruined by stuff like this.”
It will come as no surprise that Du Plessis has a huge following in South Africa, as the rapidly rising sport of MMA continues to bring in new fans.
Du Plessis is therefore in an incredible position of power and influence, and to side with Trump should be a huge area of concern for his fans. Or is it just about his fighting?
It’s about both, and separating the political views of Du Plessis and his performance in the octagon should be problematic. After all, Du Plessis and his fans bleat on with their cliche, “No DNA, just RSA!” Which doesn’t make much sense when you side with Trump and his anti-SA rhetoric.
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
** JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Send us an email with your comments, thoughts or responses to iolletters@inl.co.za. Letters should be a maximum of 500 words, and may be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Submissions should include a contact number and physical address (not for publication).