Dricus Du Plessis isn’t particularly fond of Sean Strickland’s pitter-pattering inside the Octagon.
After securing a split decision victory over Strickland last January to claim the middleweight title, the two will run it back on February 8 when the promotion heads back to Sydney, Australia for UFC 312.
In the time since their initial five-round affair, Du Plessis has logged a fourth-round submission victory over two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya while ‘Tarzan’ added yet another split decision win to his resume, besting Paulo Costa in June.
Strickland’s scrap against Costa left a lot to be desired and ‘DDP’ didn’t shy away from throwing some shade at Strickland for overpromising and under-delivering in yet another fight.
“Yeah, I mean, Paulo Costa and Strickland’s last fight… I mean, nothing’s changed. And that’s, that’s… that’s… no, it looked boring like every other fight,” Du Plessis said during an interview on FOX Sports Australia. “Walking forward, jabbing, tipping, it wasn’t an exciting fight. And then you look at the Sean fight, people go like, ‘Did you see that last 30 seconds?’ I say 30 seconds. It’s a five-rounder, and Sean goes…
“No, it was a bad performance from his side. It wasn’t a bad performance. It was the most normal performance for him ever. You know, in our fight, I remember there was a stage in the fight where I was walking forward, but he just kept moving away and moving away, and I thought to myself, ‘I’m gonna stand here, maybe he gets the confidence to walk forward and then we can, you know, punch it out.’ And he just dropped his hands a little and said, ‘Cool.’ He has no problem with the crowd booing his fighting style. He has no problem with that.
“Unfortunately for me, I don’t… I don’t have that in me. I’m there to entertain. I’m there to give the fans a show, and, uh, I’m not there just to win fights. That is only 50% of our jobs: to win that fight. The other 50% is going out there and giving a show, like I always do.”
Du Plessis continues to slam split-decision machine Sean Strickland
Despite his tough talk on social media and a penchant for KOing his sparring partners, Strickland rarely brings that same energy inside the Octagon. Through 22 career fights under the UFC banner, he has only ended things inside the distance five times, including four knockouts and one submission.
Strickland’s last finish came against Abus Magomedov in July 2023. Before that, you’d have to go all the way back to November 2020 when he TKO’d Brendan Allen in the second round of a Fight Night scrap in Las Vegas.
“Now sure, like I said, his fighting style was very, very effective in avoiding damage and, you know, winning by decision,” Du Plessis continued. “The man has eight split-decision victories. I mean, that in itself has to tell you why, um… or split-decision a fight in the UFC? That in itself has to tell you, listen, the man’s not going out there to finish fights or to entertain.
“Now, is he more entertaining in a fight? Definitely more than he is in the fight. I have to say that. But, you know, it’s effective and it works for him, I guess.”
Meanwhile, ‘Stillknocks’ has a 75% finish rate in the UFC, putting away six of his eight opponents, including Darren Till, Derek Brunson, Robert Whittaker, and ‘The Last Stylebender.’ Overall, Du Plessis has 20 career finishes against 22 total victories, making him one of the UFC’s most prolific finishers.
