VIDEO: Which players will make great MMA fighters?
Dricus du Plessis, the newly crowned UFC middleweight champion, is now more than just a household name in South Africa.
His support for the Springboks is well-documented and they in turn supported him for his world title fight.
However, the Boks Office crew – Hanyani Shimange and Jean de Villiers, with guests Schalk Brits and Brad Barritt – sat down for a chat and attempted to find the next Dricus du Plessis in the rugby ranks.
The first name to pop up was retired two-time World Cup winner Duane Vermeulen, one of the truly hard men of the game.
Brits said because Vermeulen ‘wrestled’ in his younger days, he would have been a good fit.
Shimange threw the name of Jasper Wiese into the hat, while Brits replied with Kwagga Smith as an option.
Barritt felt that Brits would have made a good ‘flyweight’, while De Villiers suggested Brits against Faf de Klerk would make for a good MMA fight – or even Cheslin Kolbe against Brits.
(WATCH as the Boks Office crew – Hanyani Shimange and Jean de Villiers, with guests Schalk Brits and Brad Barritt – attempt to find the next Dricus du Plessis in the rugby ranks….)
The name of All Black Ardie Savea came up and then De Villiers suggested Damian de Allende is a good fit.
Brits felt England prop Ellis Genge would have been great.
Then Brits said Australian scrumhalf Nick White “won’t make it”, because he falls over too easily.
De Villiers then pointed out that White is also in Brits ‘weight class’.
Barritt suggested a ‘wiry’ Irishman like Hugo Keenan would be a surprise, because he ‘probably does kickboxing’.
Shimange thought Andre Porter could be another Irish name in the octagon.
De Villiers thought Bakkies Botha and Eben Etzebeth might make good fighters, because they have a lot of ‘dawg’ in them.
The Welsh entry would be Liam Williams, because he can ‘kick from anywhere’.
And the Argentinean entry would be Guido Petti, Tomás Lavanini or Pablo Matera.
Barritt revealed that during his time at the Sharks, they wrestled once in training and he was no good at it.
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