Flow!

In October 2020, Dricus du Plessis celebrated his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut against Markus Peres with a first-round knockout punch in Abu Dhabi. The timing is interesting, given that it was the height of Covid-19 and lockdowns around the world. But I guess a little virus transmitted during a contact sport is the least of your worries when your opponent may kill you at any time with a nicely timed kick to the temple.

It was around this time that I first started seeing references to DDP on Twitter. But I didn’t take much notice, as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) can hardly be described as “my thing”. I’m a lover, not a fighter; my dad wouldn’t even allow me to play rugby at school.

Having said that, for some reason my late father was quite into boxing in the seventies and early eighties. And of course, I would listen and watch with him, as kids do.

A fight between local South African boy Pierre Fourie and light-heavyweight world champion Victor Galindez stands out in my memory. Fourie was the clear winner… at least in the eye of the biased Afrikaans radio commentator (was it Gerhard Viviers?). When the result was announced, Galindez had nicked it. We wuz robbed. Five years later, both Fourie and Galindez died tragically in motor vehicle accidents, only 4 months apart.

There was also the quick-hitting boxer from rural KZN with the unforgettable, almost musical name, Tap Tap Makhatini, famed for taking part in South Africa's first multiracial boxing tournament (and winning against a Brazilian opponent) in 1974.

And then of course, Gerrie “Seer Handjies” Coetzee, AKA the Boksburg Bomber. Everybody on social media jokes that DDP may be world champion today, but he’s still only number 8 in Vereeniging (or Roodepoort, or Brakpan). Well, Coetzee became WBA heavyweight world champion in 1983 when he knocked out Michael Dokes, yet purportedly he was not even the best fighter in his own family.

There were other names. Brian Mitchell. Dingaan Thobela. Arnold Taylor. Corrie Sanders. Cassius Baloyi. Baby Jake Matlala. Charlie Weir with the cute lock of silver hair. Jimmy Abbott, who later became an institution at Ellis Park.

And of course, Kallie Knoetze and Mike Schutte, probably better known for jokes in their collective names than their fighting prowess (although I wouldn’t mess with either of them). My favourite: the two of them sitting in a bar with floor-to-ceiling mirrors along the one side. Mike says to Kallie: “Small world, look over there, Mike Schutte and Kallie Knoetze are also in this bar!” Kallie suggests that they walk over and buy the two a drink. As they get up and start walking, he looks in the mirror once more, stops, and tells Mike: “No, I think we can sit down again, they’re coming across to join us!”

The legendary Toweel Brothers were world famous in Joh’burg and practically ran boxing in South Africa in those heady days. Victor was a world champ himself back in the day; Alan was a top trainer; Maurice was a wheelchair-bound promoter of major fights.

And then my interest in boxing waned, sometime in the early to mid-eighties. I cannot name one fighter worldwide who may have made a name for himself (or herself) in the last 4 decades or so. Until DDP entered the scene relatively recently, performing in MMA at the highest level, something much bigger and better than simple boxing.

When he uttered the now famous “hulle weet nie wat ons weet nie” (“they don’t know what we know”) after his previous professional victory last year, it quickly went viral. What on earth was this guy talking about, people wondered.

I saw an interview with du Plessis where he was asked about this recently. His explanation was down-to-earth, old school and fiercely patriotic. It boiled down to the fact that most people in South Africa don’t have the opportunities or facilities to compete with the best in the world, but this just makes all of us more determined and ultimately tougher to beat. It also brings us together… that’s what we all know, and they don’t know.

Parallels are drawn with the Springboks in the last two Rugby World Cup (RWC) tournaments. Not the best team according to most pundits, yet Siya Kolisi and the rest of the boys found a way to win every time that it mattered most. Typically by just one point, the same margin as DDP’s victory against Sean Strickland – some irony in that.

Just like Kolisi, DDP also seems to have inspired and unified a whole nation. I cannot get enough of all those scenes of raucous crowds at restaurants and bars around South Africa, deliriously celebrating the South African fighter’s success at breakfast time on a Sunday morning. Much like Canal Walk and many other venues in SA after the RWC final last year.

This is also why I just had to get up in the middle of the night to watch the fight. Bear in mind that I’m in London, 2 hours behind South Africa, so it was a 3AM start in Blighty. I was not much pleased that the organisers and broadcasters conspired to mislead us… but the three-and-a-half-hour wait was ultimately more than worthwhile.

Except for the result itself, my favourite part of the broadcast was listening to DDP’s trainer and all his “vloei” (“flow”) references. I learnt about this concept a number of years ago, when a friend shared a book with the same Flow title with me – describing how not only sports stars, but people in practically all walks of life perform best when they stop thinking too much and just enjoy what they’re doing while accessing their creative potential. As someone who likes to write, I sometimes experience it myself, the words just flowing without having to plan or think much… the polar opposite of writer’s block.

I’m no expert in Oriental religion or philosophy, but I would suggest that flow is quite a Zen concept. Which is also why the “flow” references amused me so much, with two superhuman beasts pummelling each other to smithereens in front of our eyes.

“Bliksem hom!”, the trainer would shout just after each “flow”. Zen, indeed.

You bliksemed him nicely, Dricus, well done. I think they know now.

You now only have to beat those other 7 okes in Vereeniging and we can celebrate you as undisputed champ.

 

Deon Gouws

London

21 January 2024