Is Dricus du Plessis gonna have a similar decline to Tony Ferguson?

I had this random thought earlier, how Dricus' style reminds me of Tony's in the sense that he fights very unconventional, can push a crazy pace and relies on his athleticism a lot. Signs in his favor are that the second Strickland fight showed that he can be more technical than he usually fights and that he is very good at game planning for his opponents. Also, I think at middleweight fighters tend to be able to compete at a higher age than in the lower weight classes. On the other hand, whenever someone relies on explosiveness as much as he does for a lot of his movements, once that explosiveness starts to go, they suddenly don't pose much of a threat anymore. At 31, Dricus is still young and I can see him having a few more years of success at the top of the division, either staying champion or being a top contender like Rob and Max were during Izzy's and Volk's reigns respectively. I think it will be interesting to see if he can continue developing as a fighter and adapt to his eventual athletic decline, or if he will suddenly go on a Tonyesque skid at some point. Curious to hear people's thoughts on the matter! submitted by /u/Scaeza [link] [comments]