You do not want to make any mistakes when training at the CIT Performance Institute, the headquarters of UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.
Du Plessis is set to defend his belt against former champion Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 305 this weekend in Perth, Australia.
In a recent episode of the pre-fight UFC Countdown show, fans got a look inside Du Plessis' gym in Pretoria, South Africa, and learned that his head coach, Morne Visser, uses a stripped-back version of a taser to keep fighters in check.
From the UFC 305 Countdown: Head coach Morne Visser uses a taser against his students to prevent bad habits. pic.twitter.com/K57ZYrgUqu
— Alexander Volkara France (@VolkaraFrance) August 10, 2024
"This is my assistant coach,” Visser said, brandishing his stun baton (via MMA Mania). “He [expletive] up, so I helped him fix the problem. This is fixing the problem. He’s not on his toes, not keeping up his hands, not kicking when he needs to, so I’ll fix him.”
While this practice is at best uncomfortable and at worst quite dangerous, Du Plessis doesn't seem to have a problem with it.
“It’s much better [than a] mental note,” the middleweight champion said. “Much better than a sticky note.”
In fact, it seems Du Plessis might not be the world champion he is today if it weren't for this bizarre practice.
“He doesn’t [expletive] up very much any more," the coach said of the UFC champion.
Du Plessis captured the UFC middleweight title with a decision victory of Sean Strickland in January. He also holds recent victories over high level opponents in Robert Whittaker, Darren Till, and Derek Brunson.
Adesanya has not fought since he lost the title with a decision defeat to Strickland in 2023 — one of the biggest upsets of the year. Prior to that, he was riding a knockout win over current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
