Teddy Atlas liked what he saw in the UFC 297 main event.
Last Saturday, Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis went through a five-round war in Toronto, Canada. The fight-of-the-night went the distance with Du Plessis getting the split decision nod and the UFC Middleweight title. Not everybody agreed with the scorecards, including Dana White, who had it 2-2 between the two fighters going into the final round.
Atlas’ Take On The Last Round
Boxing icon Atlas shared the same sentiment as the UFC CEO, also believing Strickland had won round 5.
“I felt that when it got to the last round… whoever wins the fifth could win the fight,” Atlas said on THE FIGHT. “I didn’t see the scorecards, I’d like to see them, but it turned out in my mind, you had to win the last round. Again, it was close enough, whoever won the last round would win, especially Strickland.
“I felt like if Strickland is gonna win, if there’s a path to his victory now, he’s gotta take the last round. I didn’t feel quite as same with Du Plessis. I was feeling like Strickland gets it if he wins it. I’ll be damned, he went out there and for me, he won the fifth. Du Plessis took the fourth, but he won the fifth. And it was a close fight. Uh, they wound up giving it [to Du Plessis], I’m not complaining, but my initial feeling was he won that fifth round. He got it.”
Fighting Like A Champion
Strickland might not have gotten his hand raised, but Atlas praised the American for fighting until the very end against Du Plessis.
“He behaved like a champion,” Atlas said of Strickland. “He fought like a champion. They both did. Yeah, they both did, there’s no doubt about that. But he had to behave like a champion in order to have a chance to win by winning that fifth round because he had a tough fourth round. Du Plessis finally started to really, really impose his physicality, his will, but his physicality on Strickland.
“The fifth round was urgent, mandatory for Strickland to behave like a champ and he did. He came out and behaved. I thought he took the round like I said. They both behaved like champs,” Atlas added. “I’m not knocking the other guy. I loved the other guy, too. At the end of the day, I guess what won it for Du Plessis is his aggression.”
Du Plessis ‘Started To Be The Ocean’ In The Octagon
Using his famous metaphors, Atlas credits the new champion Du Plessis and his title-winning performance at UFC 297.
“Now I saw when Du Plessis started getting into him. He started to be the ocean a little bit,” Atlas said. “Like I talk about when I use those metaphors where he started to be the ocean a little bit in the fourth round. High tide was coming in. It’s hard to keep high tide from coming. It’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming.
“But to the credit of Strickland, he found a way to deal with that high tide. He found a way to kind of float with it and stem it with his jab and his attitude, his action, his behavior in that last round. Terrific fight.”
‘He Lost The Fight But I Thought He Got Better’
Even in the loss, Teddy Atlas sees improvements from Sean Strickland.
“Strickland was relaxed, he was comfortable there,” Atlas continued. “You could see for me, winning the title… You always said in the old times, you win the title, you get 30% better, just from winning the title. I thought he got better. I did. I know he lost the fight but I thought he got better. Du Plessis was not an easy guy to deal with in your first title defense. “
