Dricus Du Plessis has been put on notice.
If “Stillknocks” tries to replicate his performance from the promotion’s seasonal press conference last month in Las Vegas, then “Tarzan” is prepared to stab the South African slugger — even if it means going to jail and forfeiting his middleweight title.
Don’t expect Du Plessis to be shaking in his boots.
“I’ll be ready for whatever he tries with me,” Du Plessis told The MMA Hour. “When I go to these press conferences, I never plan, ‘Oh, I’m going to say this, say that!’ That’s not the way. It’s on the spot. I think it’s going to be a lot more civil, but maybe he comes out guns blazing, who knows? But I think it will be a lot more civil because in my mind, that first press conference was joking around. That was me having a lot of fun. I’m not in that zone anymore. I’m in the fight zone now. I’m ready to go. I’m here to win a world title. I’m not here to make jokes. I’m here to be a world champion.”
The press conference comments by Du Plessis “triggered” Strickland and led to a wild crowd brawl at the UFC 296 event the following night. Both fans and media have been bracing for Round 2, which could take place when Du Plessis and Strickland face off at this week’s UFC 297 media gatherings.
“I don’t regret anything,” Du Plessis continued. “I said what I said. Listen, if you’re dishing it out, you’re going to get it. I’m not going to keep on hammering on it, but I stand by what I said. I did not joke about it. What happened was fact. I stated fact. He joked about it, in previous interviews. I didn’t joke about it, I stated the facts. Obviously, it had a massive effect on him. I won’t be hammering on that because it’s not necessary. I got the results I wanted. I don’t need to hammer on one thing. I have no animosity towards him. I said what I said, what happened, happened, there’s no animosity, from my side at least. I’m here to do my business. I’m here to win a fight.”
Du Plessis will try to capture the middleweight title from Strickland when they collide in the UFC 297 pay-per-view (PPV) headliner this Sat. night (Jan. 20, 2024) at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The winner could move on to fight former champion Israel Adesanya, who will be seated cageside, at UFC 300 in April.
“He’s a funny character. I actually quite enjoy him,” Du Plessis said. “The hypocrisy is what made me — that was the one area where people could lose respect for Sean Strickland, because he’s always unapologetically himself. But as soon as he got his own medicine, as soon as he was on the receiving end for the very first time, when I got on that mic, we saw him backpedal and try to play for sympathy. He wanted sympathy. He was acting like he had that victim mentality immediately. You can’t do that if you say the things you say. Talking about people who can’t dodge busses on a fighter who died. Is that not over the line? You, Mr. Moral Compass, doesn’t decide where the line is. He doesn’t have the right to decide where that line is. Now, all of a sudden, the line is where he wants it to be? No. I don’t think so.”
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