He looked gassed, he looked hurt, but Dricus du Plessis just looks like a champion now.
The UFC middleweight champion solidified his belt with a fourth-round submission win over former champ Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 on Saturday, reversing a fight that was very much not going his way to notch his first title defense.
After a somewhat even first two rounds, Adesanya grabbed momentum with surgical body shots in the third and was the strong favorite on the live odds. The larger du Plessis was having his takedowns stuffed and clearly having a good time, until a shot in the fourth wobbled Adesanya enough for the South African to put him back on the ground.