Dricus du Plessis on being tased by coach: It's a South African sticky note

The South African is headlining UFC 305 in Perth where his middleweight strap will be on the line against mercurial former champion Israel Adesanya.

There's no question that MMA athletes take a beating. In the journey to the top of the UFC middleweight division, du Plessis has been knocked out, submitted, beaten and as we found out this week: tased. 

Footage shown on the UFC Embedded series revealed du Plessis and his Team CIT teammates getting tased by long-time coach Morne Visser. The coach prowls the octagon looking for errors and makes his fighters pay in pain.

"It's a South African sticky note," du Plessis told the media scrum on Thursday.

"Coach will tell you 'your hand isn't high enough', or 'your chin is in the air'. And he'll warn you. Then he'll warn you again. Then he'll say 'I've warned you twice about this, get on your stomach'. And you lie down and get tased on the foot. It's a great reminder.

"It's been a part of the team for over two years. We've upgraded the taser because we got used to the old one. It didn't have the same effect. So that's why we have the big one now, it's a proper one."

Speaking on the fight itself, du Plessis played down any animosity between him and Adesanya, instead showing respect. The Pretoria native is under no illusions as to the challenge that lies ahead at the RAC Arena on Sunday.

"At this level, when you are fighting champion against contender, everybody is fit and strong," he continued.

"They have good enough striking, good enough wrestling, good enough grappling. Everybody is good everywhere.

"It's about who shows up on the night with a plan and if the plan is changing, who can figure it out. You can look at it as two great fighters and we going to find out who came with the best armour."

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