Dricus du Plessis waves his UFC middleweight title belt to a crowd Dricus du Plessis defended his Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title, but this came after some particularly nasty words he had for his opponent Israel Adesanya ahead of their fight last weekend.. Photographer: Leon Lestrade / Independent Newspapers.
Trash talking, gamesmanship, or sledging in sport has once again come to the fore, and it begs the questions when is it necessary and what does it add to the game?
These are things to consider when you look at trash talking in sport.
Dricus du Plessis defended his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title, but this came after some particularly nasty words he had for his opponent Israel Adesanya ahead of their fight last weekend.
The pre-fight tactics of Du Plessis always involve antagonising his opposition with seemingly no topic off limits.
In July last year at UFC 290, there had been existing tension between the pair as Du Plessis had said he will become the first “born, bred and trained African champion", which the Nigerian-born champion Adesanya, who now lives and trains in New Zealand (who was champion at the time) clearly didn’t like.
Since then, the two have continued their feud and it reached boiling point before the fight.
After Adesanya said he was heading to Nigeria after the fight, Du Plessis deliberately stoked the fire as he said: “Are you taking your servants with you?”
It started a heated exchange, before Adesanya told Du Plessis to “Shut the f**k up, you don’t know anything about my story. Don’t speak about my story if you don’t know my story.
Du Plessis then kept repeating: “I don’t care about your story.”
The comment which really stood out for me though, was when Du Plessis said: “I’m willing to die, and take a life for this belt.”
Pretty heavy stuff.
But since the pair appeared to have no hard feelings after the bout which Du Plessis won, it’s difficult not to see all the jibes from the fighters as just a show. Adesanya has insisted that he respects Du Plessis, but they would never exactly be friends.
There are countless examples of trash talking in sport, also called banter or sledging.
One team that is synonymous with sledging is the Australian cricket team.
Spin legend Shane Warne was one of the best sledgers - an ability that could match his incredible bowling talent.
After hearing that Daryl Cullinan had sought the help of a psychiatrist to help him overcome Shane Warne and the Aussies in 1998, the spinner could not let the opportunity pass to create more mental scarring for the hapless Proteas batsman.
Warne went on to describe in his autobiography how he quickly outsmarted Cullinan during the first Test.
“The first Test at Melbourne finally dawned. Adam Bacher fell to a fine slip catch by Mark Taylor and my old mate walked out gingerly. I let him take guard before saying ‘Daryll, I’ve waited so long for this moment and I’m going to send you straight back to that leather couch.’
“A couple balls later I bowled him for a duck. He was more embarrassed than anything else, but those words had clearly unsettled him, and he didn’t take any further part in the Test series.”
The Aussies were on the receiving end in a Test match in Port Elizabeth in 2018 against South Africa. David Warner had come in to bat and Proteas wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock made a comment about Warner’s wife - it was never revealed exactly what was said - but it prompted a physical altercation between the teams later near the changerooms.
Warner said De Kock’s comments were “outright disgusting" and "a thing you wouldn't say about any lady, especially someone's wife or a player's wife.”
In tit for tat fashion, it also later emerged that Warner had said something about De Kock’s mother and sister. Warner denied he said anything of this nature, but he probably did since the feisty keeper started the whole thing.
The best trash talker of them all though, across all sports, was probably legendary boxing heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Like Du Plessis, he made it his mission to get under the skin of his opponent.
Unlike Du Plessis though, Ali was extremely fast-talking, poetic and quick-witted, and he was just as good in a debate as he was at boxing. Du Plessis tends to err more on the side of inane, low-level, vulgar insults.
One legendary Ali quote is : “If you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait till I whip Foreman’s behind. I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.”
In 1964, even before Ali had risen to the top of his division, he said of Sonny Liston who was champion at the time: "He's too ugly to be world champion. The world champ should be pretty like me!”
But perhaps Ali’s most famous line was directed at George Foreman in 1974: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see. Now you see me, now you don't. George thinks he will, but I know he won’t."
Then you have supreme athletes like Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo. The sprinter beat showman Noah Lyles to the 200m gold at the Paris Olympics earlier this month.
In fact, the 100m gold medalist from a few days prior, Lyles came out for the 200m final celebrating like he’d already won the title, though he swiftly revealed he had Covid after he finished third.
“I cant be the face of athletics because I’m not an arrogant or loud person like Noah,” said Tebogo when asked if he could carry the baton for world athletics.
Therein lies the key. To be a true champion a touch of humility goes a long way, and that goes for trash talking too. If a player can maintain the moral high ground, it speaks of their character. The true legends like Ali, have the unique ability to transcend sport with their words as well. And that’s worth replicating.
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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