UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland says quite a lot of stuff, operating the gamut from setting tips for off-limits trash discuss matters to violating nearly each one among mentioned limits in profane and insensitive methods.
In one among his extra off-kilter media interactions, Strickland informed reporters in 2021 that he “would love nothing greater than to kill someone within the ring.”
Granting that “ring” actually refers back to the cage, the standard Strickland battle over the previous 4 years — since his return from a bike accident — doesn’t resemble that of a kill-or-be-killed fight sports activities athlete.
Dricus du Plessis, alternatively, matches that function a complete lot extra cleanly.
So when the South African middleweight, who turned 30 on Sunday, meets Strickland at UFC 297 in Toronto on Saturday (10 p.m. ET, ESPN+ pay-per-view), the champ can be squaring off in opposition to a fighter who has wanted to go the gap fewer occasions in his profession than Strickland did simply final yr on his solution to profitable the belt.
“He’s there to win; he doesn’t actually care about leisure worth,” mentioned Du Plessis throughout a latest video name with The Submit. “I hit quite a lot of pads coaching, quite a lot of slams. I practice quite a lot of submissions. After I’m considering of hitting a pad, I’m not fascinated about touching someone. I take into consideration knocking someone out. … I’m at all times going to try to end it.”
That’s not simply empty discuss, as du Plessis (20-2, 19 finishes) has ended every of his final three, all in opposition to ranked middleweights, within the second or third rounds.
After forcing Darren Until to faucet to a face crank throughout a Battle of the Evening in December 2022, du Plessis solicited a nook stoppage in opposition to Derek Brunson in March and have become solely the second man to (T)KO former champ Robert Whittaker at 185 kilos in July.
An equal opportunist, du Plessis has 9 (T)KOs to his credit score and 10 submission victories, and he has received all eight of his fights since leaving the welterweight division behind, again when he had but to signal with the UFC.
By comparability, seven of Strickland’s 10 bouts since his two-year hiatus following the accident have gone the gap, together with 5 of six five-round predominant occasions.
Whereas du Plessis wouldn’t paint Strickland (28-5, 15 finishes) as a boring fighter — the champ has earned Efficiency of the Evening bonuses thrice the previous 4 years — and allowed “he has his moments,” the challenger paints his model as extra pleasing to followers.
“Should you have a look at my fights, present me one boring battle that I’ve had in my entire profession,” du Plessis mentioned. “… It’s not gonna be a boring battle as a result of I received’t enable it. I don’t possess the model to have a boring battle. By no means have. By no means will.”
Would possibly as effectively throw within the first battle between du Plessis and Strickland whereas the rating is being tallied.
That first conflict received’t be discovered on their official file as a result of the impromptu skirmish between the 2 occurred only one month in the past through the pay-per-view portion of UFC 296, just some yards from the octagon.
Strickland was seated only a couple rows forward of du Plessis at T-Cell Area — a choice UFC president CEO Dana White dubbed “silly” and for which he took full accountability — and, after an trade of heated phrases, Strickland calmly ushered these seated between the 2 out of the way in which earlier than exploding right into a flurry of strikes.
To listen to du Plessis converse of the leadup to the brawl, “simply me being round [Strickland] made him really feel insecure.”
Nonetheless, du Plessis wasn’t anticipating to set off the following kerfuffle, which he categorized as “surprising” reasonably than a sucker punch.
“I didn’t assume that was gonna occur,” mentioned du Plessis, who arrived at his seat simply earlier than the principle card began and roughly 60-90 minutes earlier than the 2 got here to blows. “It’s the middleweight champion of the world. Lots of occasions, issues occur, and we act accordingly to the scenario, and that’s precisely what occurred.”
Fortuitously, neither man took sufficient injury to throw off plans for the precise battle in Canada.
Whereas noting Strickland landed “a few good blows, elbows to the top,” du Plessis performed down their effectiveness and the facility within the palms of his upcoming opponent.
“I assumed possibly someone who was not a professional fighter was busy hitting me as effectively.” du Plessis jabbed. “Possibly one among his buddies as a result of he didn’t really feel like a world champion.”
And even when White known as himself an “a–gap” for creating the scenario, it’s simple to see how he’d be doing so whereas laughing his solution to the financial institution.
The surprising tiff solely raised the profile of a battle that wasn’t essentially essentially the most anticipated championship matchup on the horizon beforehand.
Du Plessis conceded it’s truthful to imagine UFC 297 might profit from a bump in pay-per-view gross sales because of this, however he questioned if that’s the kind of consideration the promotion would need for its picture after a long time of erasing late Sen. John McCain’s “human cockfighting” label.
“We’re athletes now,” says du Plessis, noting how far the game as come from the no-holds-barred days. “Individuals look as much as us, and we’re all distinctive human beings. We’re completely different than every other athlete on this planet.
“There’s two sides. There’s the great facet of the pay-per-view, however then you definitely’re taking a look at, that is our middleweight champion of the world leaping over chairs to punch someone within the crowd, despite the fact that we’re going to battle now. If I wished to press fees, I may have. He wouldn’t have been capable of come to Canada and have this battle.”
Not that du Plessis would have thought of getting the authorities concerned.
“Me urgent fees? No, that’s not taking place,” says du Plessis coolly. “That’s not the way in which I used to be introduced up. That’s not the way in which we do it.”