Sean Strickland is confident that he can improve upon his performance at UFC 297 in order to reclaim the middleweight title. After shocking the world by beating Israel Adesanya for the belt at UFC 293, Strickland’s first title defence came in January last year against Dricus Du Plessis.
The fight came right down to the wire with the judges scoring the fight in favor of the challenger, seeing Du Plessis become the new champion via a split decision. Strickland has developed a trademark style in recent years which has led to many questioning what he can do differently in his rematch with the South African at UFC 312 on February 8.
Whilst “Stillknocks” has a wide variety of attacks at his disposal, Strickland is very much the opposite with the former champ utilizing a fairly straight forward approach that relies heavily on defense and pressure. He recognizes that Du Plessis is a good opponent but he believes that the two men simply have different approaches, rather than one having the advantage over the other.
In an interview with Mike Bohn for MMA Junkie, the challenger spoke about what he expects from his main event clash in Australia.
“It comes down to what I said [before about] f***ing Dricus [du Plessis] on that short bus. I respect him for it. He goes f***ing full send… But you know, you’re a wrecking ball, I’m a f***ing scalpel. It just comes down to who’s better.”
The big question heading into the title fight rematch is whether Strickland can make small adjustments to his game plan in order to make it more effective the second time around. Having had his moments in their first encounter, he’s clearly confident that he will get his hand raised at the second time of asking.
”Last time I think I was better. This time, I think I’m gonna f***ing piece you apart. Your face will look the exact same after (as last fight) if not worse.”