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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Mike Bohn

Video: Sean Strickland, Dricus Du Plessis come to blows in crowd at UFC 296

The heat from the UFC 297 press conference between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis spilled over into the crowd on Saturday at UFC 296.

After many personal words were exchanged between Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) and Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) as they built up their fight at a press conference Thursday in Las Vegas, they were somehow seated right near each other on fight night at T-Mobile Arena.

In what should’ve been a totally unsurprising turn of events, they got into a physical altercation, with UFC lightweight Jared Gordon claiming Strickland “jumped over the seats” to attack Du Plessis.

UFC security and UFC CEO Dana White ran over to break up the pair, and according to Jon Anik on the broadcast, Strickland was removed from the venue.

After the conclusion of UFC 296, the promotion released their footage of the altercation (via X):

MMA Journalist Helen Yee caught the exchange from the balcony seats inside the arena, and you can watch it below (via X):

Du Plessis and Strickland reacted to the news after the fact (via X):

Additionally, UFC boss White reacted to the news at the UFC 296 post-fight news conference, and said he takes full blame for the incident after seating Strickland and Du Plessis too close together (via X):

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296.

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