Who Is Dricus du Plessis’ Coach Morne Visser and What Kind of Relationship Does the Two Share?

Dricus Du Plessis has become the UFC middleweight champion with an undefeated run in the MMA promotion. However, the South African fighter has faced quite a bit of backlash from the MMA community after several videos surfaced on the internet showing him kissing ͏his coach, Morne Visser.

It became a talking point among fans and fighters alike, extracting heated rants from his former opponent, Sean Strickland. But who exactly is Visser? Let’s find out!

All we know about Morne Visser, Dricus Du Plessis’ coach

Morne Visser is indeed the head coach of the CIT Performance Institute, Pretoria, South Africa. The UFC middleweight champion has been training under Visser’s guidance for a long time now. It’s his training regimes that helped Du Plessis go 7-0 in UFC. On top of training ‘Stillknocks’, Visser also owns Cit Moto, a car dealership.

But if you think Visser is the only person responsible for taking Du Plessis to the MW championship belt, get ready to be surprised. The Team CIT has Marino Cutendana, Jaco Du Plessis, JT Botha, Lumay vd Watslaben, and Stephen de la Ray, as well. For strength and conditioning, Claudia Botha has taken up the reins as a coach. For BJJ, the gym has the giants, Wayne Harrison and Wayne Hulme. Needless to say, the gym ensures that the fighters get the most out of their training with some of the best coaches in the MMA realm, don’t you think?

To put the cherry on top, Du Plessis also trains with the Extreme Fighting Championship welterweight title holder, Mark Hulme, and the knockout artists David Buirski and Thapelo Seabi.

However, the South African champion and his head coach weren’t free from getting called out in public. Let’s find out why!

Why did Du Plessis and his coach get called out?

Dricus Du Plessis and his coach have been observed celebrating with hugs and kisses after several victories. Following his impressive win against middleweight contender Robert Whittaker, certain old clips featuring Du Plessis and his coach gained widespread attention.

When the video was at its peak, ‘Tarzan’ wrote on Twitter (now X), “We often talk about Rose and Lad and their coaches but we never talk about Dricus! Dricus hold up four fingers if you’re in danger…..”

This tweet was made back during UFC 290. At that time, Strickland was not even the champion, and no one was expecting them to face each other. However, the winds took a different direction, and Strickland defeated Israel Adesanya to get the Middleweight title at UFC 293. Later, ‘Stillknocks’ defeated ‘Tarzan’ to claim the title for himself.

During the press conference, Strickland again debated Du Plessis’s relationship with his coach and ripped apart the contender. “I want to make this fu**ing  man bleed, and this is going to be a good one. By the way, Dricus, I like Dricus, but we’re going to fight each other. We don’t have to be fu**ing friends. I don’t have to be his coach; I am not trying to grab your di*k,” said Strickland.

What is Dricus Du Plessis’s relationship with his coach?

Like Du Plessis, fighter Cameron Saaiman was also seen kissing his coach. During an interview, the South African fighter said it was a part of their culture. “Well, that’s how we were brought up.” He also said it was very acceptable to greet their father or grandfather with a kiss or hug. On the other hand, Saaiman also understands how the gesture may come across as a little weird to some people.

That being said, Saaiman understood the confusion that the act created in the fighting world. He said, “I can imagine people watching the fight like knockout and then kissing your coach like what?” While the UFC bantamweight’s answer explains it, DDP has not really spoken about it.

What do you think of the relationship between Du Plessis and Visser? Let us know in the comments down below.