The blow of Sean Strickland’s latest loss has been slightly softened by an impressive stat.
Dricus du Plessis obliterated the wacky American’s nose en route to a unanimous decision win to retain his 185lb title at UFC 312, which took place at the Qudos Arena in Sydney, Australia on Saturday night.
Sean Strickland faces a tough battle to get back into title contention after losing to the champion twice.
The 33-year-old has every right to feel down right now – but one good thing did come out of UFC 312.
Sean Strickland sets new UFC striking record
During du Plessis vs Strickland 2, the commentators paused to mention a new UFC record had been set.
Joe Rogan’s commentary replacement, Michael Bisping, was the perfect man to react to the news.
‘The Count’ set the middleweight significant strikes landed record at 1384 during his Hall of Fame career.
More than seven years after Bisping’s retirement fight, his impressive feat was outdone by Strickland.
By the end of the contest, he had set the new bar at 1465 significant strikes landed. Strickland smashing the 2000 mark is not out of the question as he’s still got lots of fights left in him, despite falling short against du Plessis.
Bisping was quick to congratulate his former sparring partner before refocusing on the UFC 312 action.
Sean Strickland reveals extent of his nose injury
Strickland was transported to a local hospital after the seventh defeat of his MMA career.
After being checked out, he took to social media to provide an update about his badly broken nose.
“Guys, we’ve been here once or twice,” Strickland said on Instagram.
“Dricus, hats off, a hell of a fight man, you broke my nose in like six places, the silver lining is my nose is so broken that it’s really easy to reset so that was a new experience.
“Losing sucks but we all lose in life… I love the misery, I love the suffering because when you’re miserable when you’re in pain and suffering, the moment that’s gone… life’s good.”