Sean Strickland suffered a broken nose after Dricus du Plessis landed a massive punch during the UFC 312 main event.
Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland‘s bid at redemption against Dricus du Plessis fell short at UFC 312 in Sydney. Despite finding some early success with his boxing, he wasn’t able to fix some of the mistakes he made in their first fight, as du Plessis coasted to a unanimous decision win.
Midway through the UFC 312 headliner, du Plessis left Strickland’s face a bloody mess as he landed a diverse set of attacks. One punch landed square to Strickland’s nose, which broke it and left Strickland breathing out of his mouth for the remainder of the fight.
After du Plessis landed the big punch that broke Strickland’s nose, Strickland improvised and quickly tried to reset it as du Plessis pushed forward. In between rounds, Strickland told his corner “It’s broken, I reset it.” when his coaches asked about his nose.
UFC fans react to Sean Strickland’s mid-fight nose adjustment
Here’s how UFC fans reacted on X to Strickland’s broken nose and mid-fight fix.
“What a savage!” one fan wrote.
“Sean is TOUGH!”
“This is a warrior!”
“HE’S MADE OUT OF STEEL.”
“One tough son of a b—-.”
“Sean Strickland is an absolute beast! Breaking his nose and still continuing to fight like nothing happened is a testament to his toughness and mental resilience.”
“Animal.”
“Nose repair skill—part-time rogue healer. That’s grit.”
“Sean talks a lot of s— but man what a warrior to still fight with a broken nose looking like that.”
“Just sick.”
You can check out Strickland’s full interaction with his corner below after breaking his nose against du Plessis. Despite the nasty injury, Strickland pushed forward and managed to make it the full distance against the middleweight champion.
Dricus du Plessis called out a surprising name after UFC 312 win
After outpointing Strickland for the second time, du Plessis is likely set to face the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev for his next middleweight title defense. But despite Chimaev being an obvious callout target, du Plessis opted to call out a superstar who is set to return next month.
In his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier, du Plessis called out UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
“Is there no one else?! Is there no one else!!!!” du Plessis proclaimed.
Pereira will return to defend his UFC light heavyweight title next month at UFC 313 against Magomed Ankalaev. In the lead-up to UFC 312, Strickland alleged Pereira ‘hates’ du Plessis.
After du Plessis finished Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, Pereira hinted at a middleweight return in a cryptic social media post. Pereira hasn’t competed at middleweight since a knockout loss to Adesanya at UFC 287.
If du Plessis can get past Chimaev, a move to light heavyweight might be on the table. Regardless, the South African continues to silence his detractors as he moves closer to becoming a UFC legend.