Dricus Du Plessis flies the Mzansi flag HIGH as he wins at UFC 276

South African mixed martial artist Dricus Du Plessis beat Brad Tavares at UFC 276 and in the process climbed into the TOP 15 ranked middleweight fighters in the world.

It was another step closer to becoming the first African based UFC champion when Dricus 'Stillknocks' Du Plessis (17-2) edged out veteran Brad Tavares on points.

Third fight under the organisation and third win.

HOW IT UNFOLDED

The first round didn't go to planned for Stillknocks. As an elite striker he will have wanted to avoid the ground and keep the fight standing for as long as possible but that didn't happen.  

In the early exchanges he slipped as tried to catch the Americans knee kick and they got in the clinch. His arm then slipped as he attempted a take down resulting in Brad Tavares gain top position on the floor. Brad would go on to dominate the round.

Second round we saw what we expect to see: the South African displaying his superior striking skills and unleashing bombs on his his opponent. As he said in his post fight interview with Joe Rogan: "Second round I was lighting him up".

Tavares was unable to evade his punches and kept getting tagged all round long. This also resulted in him getting caught with some kicks and a big knee to the nose and had blood gushing out close to end of the round. 

Final round was similar to the second, Dricus throwing a lot and connecting with a lot. It must be said that Brad Tavares has a serious chin because he was caught with so many clean shot but managed to stay fairly steady throughout. 

The fight went to the judge's scorecards Dricus won 28-29 to maintain his 100% record in the organization!