All About Dricus Du Plessis’ Coach and His Relationship With Morne Visser

Dricus Du Plessis is on a once-in-a-lifetime undefeated run in the MMA promotion. His unusual fighting style, coupled with his relentless gas tank, has always been an intriguing aspect of his fighting career among fans. However, the South African star has been surrounded by certain controversies, one of which involved du Plessis facing quite a bit of backlash from the MMA community after several videos surfaced on the internet showing him kissing ͏his coach, Morne Visser.

The controversial kiss became a talking point among fans and fighters alike and even extracted heated rants from Dricus du Plessis’ upcoming UFC 312 opponent, Sean Strickland. But who exactly is Morne Visser? Let’s find out!

All about Dricus du Plessis’ coach, Morne Visser

Morne Visser is the head coach of the Dricus du Plessis and the CIT Performance Institute, based in Pretoria, South Africa. The UFC middleweight champion has been training under Visser’s guidance for a long time now, and it has paid dividends. It’s his training regimes that helped Du Plessis go 8-0 in Dana White’s promotion, and while doing so, ‘Stillknocks’ claimed the UFC gold. On top of training ‘Stillknocks’, Visser also owns CIT Moto, which is a car dealership.

Morne Visser doesn’t just train Du Plessis, but he also trains budding South African prospects with the help of many other coaches who take care of various aspects of fighting. The staff at that gym include Marino Cutendana, Jaco Du Plessis, JT Botha, Lumay vd. Watslaben, and Stephen de la Ray, among others. 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.

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 at UFC 297.

During the press conference, Strickland again debated Du Plessis’s relationship with his coach and ripped apart the contender. “I want to make this f—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 f—ing friends. I don’t have to be his coach; I am not trying to grab your d—,” said Strickland. Since we’re talking about Dricus du Plessis’ relationship with his coach, let’s explore the details regarding that.

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, Cameron 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. But the fact remains that the relationship he shares with Morne Visser is one of teacher and student, and having trained under him for so many years, they’ve gotten close like a family.

Meanwhile, when the UFC world first witnessed Dricus du Plessis kissing his coach, UFC legend Daniel Cormier was caught on video with a weird expression. ‘DC’ recently opened up on it while interviewing the middleweight champion ahead of his fight this weekend.

Daniel Cormier confronts du Plessis after going viral on video

Ahead of Dricus du Plessis’ UFC 312 title rematch, Daniel Cormier felt like he had to bring up the video where he was seen surprised that the middleweight champion kissed his coach. While the kiss appeared controversial, ‘DC’s reaction was what piqued the interest of the fans on social media. But the Hall of Famer cleared the air surrounding that moment, claiming that he didn’t even notice ‘DDP’ kissing Morne Visser.

“I didn’t even notice, Dricus. Like, that’s why everybody’s like, ‘Look at DC uncomfortable.’ I did not even notice. I did not even notice. You’re such a liar, bro. I had no idea. I wasn’t even paying attention,” Daniel Cormier told Dricus du Plessis. While the middleweight champion appeared to understand where the Hall of Famer was coming from, he still believed that his reaction stirred up the controversy, but on a light-hearted note. “I know what you’re saying, and photos sometimes can be deceiving. But that was a bad look… very rude for staring, DC,” Dricus du Plessis responded.

Well, the controversy has subsided, and as always, Morne Visser will be there to support Dricus du Plessis this Saturday. Regardless, what do you think of the relationship between Du Plessis and Visser? Let us know in the comments down below.