Sean Strickland might say he’s able to combat to the demise each time he steps contained in the Octagon, however he certain doesn’t combat like a man able to die.
After surrendering the middleweight world title a bit greater than a 12 months in the past, Strickland will look to reclaim the crown when he meets reigning champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312 on February 8 in Sydney, Australia.
The primary time round, Strickland got here up quick on two of the three scorecards, struggling a intently contested break up resolution. The combat itself didn’t precisely set the world on hearth — a irritating actuality contemplating the extreme buildup and Strickland’s demand that he and the South African star go into the bout able to “fight to the death.” As a substitute, Strickland stayed on his again foot for a lot of the combat, leaning on his jab to try to outpoint ‘DDP’ all through the five-round affair.
Just lately, Strickland prompt that he and Du Plessis enter a pact forward of their sequel scrap in The Land Down Below.
🚨 Sean Strickland needs to make a stand and bang pact with DDP. No takedowns. No grappling. Simply placing.
Assortment goes stay tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/n6yvhNq8tW
— Full Violence ™ (@Full_Violence) January 22, 2025
“I’m going to need you to be a f**king man and I’m gonna need you to stand up, not go to your knees, and we’re gonna need to f**king strike like men,” Strickland demanded in a video. “I do know you prefer to wrestle, and also you prefer to f**kng choke folks out and do some homosexual s**t, dude however I’ll make a pact with you. You make a pact with me that we f**kng arise like f**king males and we settle this s**t like males.’’
Du Plessis says Sean Strickland is there to defend, not combat
Du Plessis was fast to dismiss any such pact with Strickland and criticized ‘Tarzan’ for always speaking an enormous sport in the course of the pre-fight festivities however failing to stay as much as the hype as soon as he’s contained in the cage.
“My response was clear. ‘There are no pacts between lions and men.’ That was my direct response,” Du Plessis stated. “But you know, that was exactly what we did the last time,” Du Plessis stated in an interview with Mark Bouris. “He stated, ‘To death. Let’s go. Let’s combat to the demise.’ And the person threw a jab and a teep for 5 rounds.
“In that—this is a stat, you can go check it—for 23 minutes, I went forward. He went forward for two minutes. That is a very clear indication of who’s there to fight and who’s there to defend.”
Of their first assembly, Du Plessis landed six of 11 tried takedowns however solely notched two minutes of management time. Nonetheless, these takedowns are doubtless what swung the choice in favor of ‘DDP’ contemplating Strickland landed 36 extra important strikes in the course of the contest.
Strickland additionally landed at a better share, connecting with 42% of his pictures whereas ‘DDP’ landed at a 38% clip.
