Dricus du Plessis’ head coach has a rather painful way to ensure his fighters don’t make mistakes.
During the recent UFC 305 Countdown video previewing du Plessis’ fight against Israel Adesanya, his coach Morne Visser showed off a cattle prod he uses to tase athletes when mistakes are made during training. Reactions to the revelation were mixed, with some believing Visser busted out the taser just for the cameras ahead of du Plessis’ title fight, and others being shocked (no pun intended) that a coach would use such a harsh tool on professional athletes.
It may seem crazy to some, but according to du Plessis, the taser is actually a preferred method of punishment compared to what Visser previously did to educate against mistakes.
“I mean, you don’t just become world champion,” du Plessis said with a laugh when asked about his coach’s unusual training methods during UFC 305 media day. “Everybody thought it was something that’s new for this camp. Not at all. It’s probably been part of the team for two and a half plus years, 100 percent. But we never filmed it. I don’t know why. I can see now probably why. To the rest of the world it might seem crazy.
“Coach used to leg kick us. He has a very strong leg kick. If you make the mistakes continuously, after he’s warned you a couple of times. But that takes you out of training. Not out of training, but it makes training difficult for a couple of days as he has a very hard leg kick. So the taser is much better than that, because the taser hurts a lot more in the moment but it’s over quickly.”
Dricus du Plessis reveals origins behind coach tasing fighters in training: ‘Coach used to leg kick us’ - MMA Fighting
