When Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland first met last January, they fought to a split decision which Strickland believed was a ‘robbery’.
Although the fight wasn’t the most technical, it turned out to be quite the back-and-forth and Dricus Du Plessis did just enough to edge it out on the judge’s scorecards, dethroning Sean Strickland.
Despite that, ever since, Strickland has done nothing but complain about the decision, claiming that the Canadian judges robbed him of his title.
With that in mind, ahead of their rematch at UFC 312, Strickland offered Du Plessis a pact in which they only strike in their rematch but he recently performed a u-turn on that after ‘Stillknocks’ shut him down.
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Dricus Du Plessis reveals why he couldn’t finish Sean Strickland in first fight
Since winning the title from Strickland at UFC 297, the South African has gone on to defend his title once against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.
During that time, ‘Tarzan’ has only picked up one win against Paulo Costa and fans believe he is fortunate to be awarded the title shot considering Khamzat Chimaev crushed Robert Whittaker not long ago.
With their first meeting having been a close one and not very technical, the champion has revealed why he wasn’t able to finish Strickland, having gone on to submit Adesanya in the fourth round of their clash.
“He was just too good, it wasn’t for a lack of trying, you could see that, I was trying, I was throwing everything I had, he was really good,” Du Plessis told ESPN MMA.
“I think the pace was so high in that fight but I only started pushing the pace later in the fight where I should’ve and now I know I can start pushing that pace from the word go.
“Defensively, Sean Strickland is one of the best fighters in the world, he’s really good at that and he’s really responsible with his defense, and he prioritizes defense over offense so he doesn’t necessarily give you the opportunity (to finish him),” the champion continued.
Dricus Du Plessis explains why he is world champion
It’s fair to say that Du Plessis has one of the strongest mindsets out of all the champions in the sport.
The former middleweight champion, ‘The Last Stylebender’ famously uttered the words, ‘I’m prepared to die’, moments before the fifth round of his interim title fight against Kelvin Gastelum.
However, Du Plessis believes it’s not only about being prepared to die in the Octagon but also being prepared to ‘kill a man in front of his family’.
“Am I willing to die? Absolutely, that’s easy. It’s ‘Are you willing to kill a man in front of his family’. Yes, I am and that’s why I am the world champion because I say yes to that question every single time,” he explained on Straight Talk.
That likely isn’t something ‘Stillknocks’ will have to worry about this coming Saturday against Strickland, who has only scored one finish in his last seven wins.