UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis isn’t fond of Sean Strickland’s fight style.
Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) will run things back with Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) in a title-fight rematch which headlines UFC 312 on Feb. 8 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.
Although their first meeting at UFC 297 earned Fight of the Night, Du Plessis says that was no thanks to Strickland. The South African didn’t rate Strickland’s rebound win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302 too highly, either.
“Nothing’s changed, he looked boring like every other fight, walking forward jabbing and teeping – it wasn’t an exciting fight,” Du Plessis told Fox Sports Australia. “It wasn’t a bad performance, it was the most normal performance from him ever.
“In our fight, I remember there was a stage in the fight where I was walking forward, but he just kept moving away and I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to stand here, maybe he gets the confidence to walk forward and we can punch it out.’ He just dropped his hands a little, and said, ‘Cool.’ He has no problem with the crowd booing his fighting style. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have that in me.”
Du Plessis initially wanted Khamzat Chimaev next, but prior to Chimaev running through Robert Whittaker at UFC 308, he was willing to run things back with Strickland after many called their first fight a robbery.
“I was 100 percent keen on the Strickland rematch the whole time,” Du Plessis said. “Everybody now says they wanted the Khamzat fight, but the same fans were the ones that called for the Strickland rematch as well up until Khamzat had the performance against Rob that he did.
“I honestly felt that the Strickland rematch was warranted, great let’s do it, and then after that Khamzat fight, that was the fight I wanted, and I think 90 percent of fans wanted. The UFC promised Strickland the fight so, this time they delivered on their promise.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.
