Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis have been reunited.
Their awkward hotel encounter, just days ahead of their five-round middleweight title fight atop the UFC 297 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Sat. night (Jan. 20, 2024) at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, marks the first time “Tarzan” and “Stillknocks” have shared the same real estate since their crowd-clearing brawl at UFC 296 last month in Las Vegas.
Watch them exchange pleasantries in the embedded video above.
This is a strange (but Ontario Athletic Commission pleasing) interaction that stands in stark contrast to the comments Strickland made on his most recent podcast, suggesting he would stab Du Plessis if things get out of hand at this week’s presser. “Tarzan” also suggested he may have shot “Stillknocks” if he was armed during their UFC 296 altercation.
There’s also an outside chance that UFC staged the interaction, similar to the one between Stephen Thompson and Kevin Holland that came under intense scrutiny ahead of UFC Orlando back in late 2022. It should also be noted that UFC has its “Embedded” video team trailing both main event fighters for the majority of UFC 297 fight week.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if things remain civil during tomorrow’s UFC 297 press conference. If not, Du Plessis promises “to be ready for whatever he tries.”
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 297 fight card right RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6:30 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPNN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
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