Rising prospect Bo Nickal has reacted to the UFC 296 crowd brawl between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis.
Strickland is scheduled to put his UFC Middleweight Championship at stake against Du Plessis in the main event of UFC 297 on January 20, 2024. During a press conference hyping up UFC bouts for 2024, Du Plessis got personal with Strickland, mentioning the champion’s history with abuse from his father.
Despite the heated exchange during the press conference, UFC CEO Dana White felt it would be wise to have the two sit near each other for the UFC 296 event inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This led to a brawl between Strickland and Du Plessis, but fortunately no one was hurt in the crowd.
Bo Nickal Has Suggestion For Sean Strickland’s Next Brawl
Durign an episode of “Nickals and Dimes,” Bo Nickal admitted that he was entertained by the fracas between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis. With that said, there is one technique Nickal wished he had seen from Strickland during the fight.
“I thought it was funny how he asked Gilbert’s kid to move out of the way,” Nickal said. “So, he had good technique, he jumped the chair, he got on top of him; there’s no rules, bro. Why were you not throwing 12-6 elbows. Boom, right on top of the head. Boom, boom, boom. That was the only thing that I was. He should’ve been dropping 12-6 right on top of the dome.”
Such an act from Strickland could’ve had severe consequences, such as the bout possibly being postponed had he opened up a cut on Dricus. As far as how close the official title fight between the two could be, Nickal is expecting a tightly contested battle.
“I think he [Du Plessis] could beat him,” Nickal said. “He’s really surprised me. I think it’s a really competitive fight … I think Strickland’s pretty good at getting up. I think he’s a good grappler, but his best asset in grappling is getting up. So, I think that’s gonna be a really competitive fight, and obviously the trash talk has been intense.”
