Dricus du Plessis reveals insane fine for jumping the fence to meet Donald Trump at UFC 290: “Too cool of a moment for me to let by”

UFC middleweight contender Dricus du Plessis was handed quite a fine for meeting Donald Trump last year.

‘Stillknocks’ is currently slated to face Sean Strickland later this month in the main event of UFC 297. The bout will be the first title shot of Dricus du Plessis’ career, as he faces the newly crowned champion. ‘Tarzan’ famously won middleweight gold back in September, with an upset decision win over Israel Adesanya.

For Dricus du Plessis, the bout will be his first since a knockout win over Robert Whittaker last July. At UFC 290, the South African scored a stunning second-round knockout over ‘The Reaper’. Following the victory, he hopped the fence to greet former U.S. President Donald Trump, who was cageside. The politician became a fixture of the MMA promotion’s pay-per-view events this year.

However, that greeting cost Dricus du Plessis $10,000. Speaking in a recent appearance on the Fight in Sight Podcast, the South African revealed the massive fine. While a big figure, the middleweight contender did acknowledge that he was warned about jumping the fence prior to his interaction with Donald Trump. Not only that, but he was warned several, several times.

Admittedly, Dricus du Plessis didn’t take the warnings too seriously. Largely thanks to the fact that he’s never jumped the fence before. However, he wound up doing exactly that, to meet the former President. According to Du Plessis, the interaction was one that was too cool to pass up on.

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Dricus du Plessis reveals fine for jumping the fence to meet Donald Trump at UFC 290

“That was the initial fine for jumping over the cage. They said – they told us beforehand – if you jump over [the fence], you’re getting a $10,000 fine,” Dricus Du Plessis told Fight in Sight in a recent interview, recounting his UFC 290 win and subsequent meeting with Donald Trump. “I was like, ‘I don’t know why you guys keep on hammering about me jumping over the fence, I’ve never done it before. It was literally the last instruction I got just before walking into the cage.” (h/t Fansided MMA)

He continued, “After the fight, I looked to the side and Trump stood up and gave me an ovation. I was like, ‘This is too cool of a moment for me to let by,’ and well, I jumped over the fence and greeted Trump.”

“This was the President of the United States,” du Plessis concluded, “I wasn’t not gonna greet him, this is amazing.”

Later in the interview, Dricus du Plessis confirmed that the commission followed through with the fine. Although, it seems that the middleweight contender has no regrets about the situation.

What do you make of these comments from Dricus du Plessis? Do you believe that he will defeat Sean Strickland later this month at UFC 297?