Dricus Du Plessis spoke with UFC CEO Dana White about potentially pressing charges against Sean Strickland after the reigning 185-pound champ attacked him in the crowd at the promotion’s final pay-per-view of 2023.
Following a heated verbal confrontation at the UFC Seasonal Press Conference last month, tempers boiled over inside T-Mobile Arena when Strickland and Du Plessis were seated in the same section for UFC 296. After politely asking Gilbert Burns’ family to move out of the way, Strickland lept over the seats and attacked Du Plessis, giving fight fans a preview of their highly anticipated middleweight title clash scheduled to go down on January 20 in Toronto.
An absolutely INSANE angle of Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis’ all out BRAWL in the crowd at #UFC296!
pic.twitter.com/zaBi2sruUs
— Colby (Fightful & BodySlam) (@ColbyPW) December 17, 2023
Both fighters walked away from the incident unscathed, but given that Strickland initiated the scuffle, Du Plessis was given the option to press charges.
“I know Dana came to me and said, ‘Listen, this is the case. We’re really sorry about this,” Du Plessis told MMA Junkie. “Obviously, the police had him and charges can be pressed because that’s assault. It’s outside of a professional arena. They didn’t try to convince me otherwise at all. They literally said, ‘If you feel like that was uncalled for, we completely understand if you want to press charges and take this further.’
“I said, ‘No, no, no, no, no. Please no.’ We are two fighters. It was a good old scrap like we did before we became professionals. I just paused and was like, ‘I would even take the blame if that’s possible, just to make sure that nothing happens to him’” (h/t BJPenn.com).
Had ‘Stillknocks’ opted to press charges, it likely would have spelled the end of their anticipated title tilt in The Great White North.
“We know to come to Canada, they are very strict,” Du Plessis continued. “They are very, very strict in getting into the country. I just wanted to make sure that if the fight wasn’t in jeopardy. I never even think of Sean Strickland trying to get away. He’s the type of guy who’s always game. He’s a guy who will go out on his shield and do it with honor.”
“I took on his manliness. I was in his face. I told him, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ He stood up for himself. That’s what a real man does. I’m happy for him. I’m glad he has that in him. No matter what the situation, what the repercussions, he didn’t think about it. He said, ‘I’m standing up for myself,’ and rightfully so. That’s where the respect comes from because that’s exactly what I would’ve done.”
Dricus Du Plessis Is Ready to Drop the drama and focus on winning gold
With fight night closing in, Du Plessis is content to leave all the drama behind and focus on capturing his first UFC title.
“I hope it’s over now, but there’s not going to be one-ups. There are no one-ups. What’s going to happen, is going to happen. We’ll see how it plays out, but right now my focus is on the fight. I’m not here to be funny. I’m not here to try and create something that there’s not. I’m here to be the next champion of the world. That’s why I’m here. I’m not going to be here to try to one-up or get even further. I’m going to do what I’m going to do and he’s going to do what he’s going to do. But right now, it’s almost senseless to try to create more hype.”
“The hype has been created. That took care of itself. Right now, for me, this is business. The whole fight week is business. Everything I handle, I’ll handle it like business. Saturday night, I’ll be signing on the dotted line, closing the deal.”
UFC 297 will emanate from Scotiabank Arena. Strickland defends his title for the first time since scoring a stunning unanimous decision victory against Israel Adesanya to claim the crown in September. Du Plessis goes into his first title opportunity backed by six-straight wins inside the Octagon. Stillknocks’ earned his shot with a brutal second-round knockout of Robert Whittaker at UFC 290.