Dricus Du Plessis doesn’t have any interest in watching Sean Strickland cry over his traumatic childhood.
Things between Strickland and his first middleweight title challenger have gotten unexpectedly and unnecessarily personal in the weeks leading up to their main event clash at UFC 297 in Toronto. Going face-to-face for the first time at last month’s seasonal press conference, Du Plessis struck a chord with Strickland and fight fans alike when he told the champ, “You think your dad beat the sh*t out of you? Your dad doesn’t have sh*t on me … every childhood memory you have is going to come back when I’m in there with you.”
Tensions boiled over 24 hours later when Strickland lept over a row of seats inside T-Mobile Arena and physically attacked Du Plessis in the middle of the promotion’s final event of 2023.
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) (@CJFWrites) December 17, 2023
Since then, Strickland addressed the situation during an appearance on This Past Weekend with Theo Von. While speaking with the comedian/podcaster, Strickland became overwhelmed with emotion while recounting the abuse he suffered as a child and lambasted Du Plessis for making comments that he believed should be off-limits, even in the fight game.
‘Stillknocks’ has since responded to Strickland’s emotional appearance, though he was quick to admit that he did not take the time to watch the interview.
“I didn’t watch [Strickland’s comments] and I don’t think I will,” du Plessis said in an interview with MMA on Point. “Watching a grown man cry in an interview, it’s not really my watch material that I go and watch. But it is it is what it is. I’m glad he cried and he got it out. I hope that’s the end of that.
“I think we give him a lot more credit than he deserves in terms of mindset. I don’t think he thinks about anything. I think he goes out there and he fights, he fights the way Sean Strickland fights. He always has and he’s an incredible fighter. I have a lot of respect for him as a fighter. I think he’s incredible.
“Do I think he’s a hypocrite? One-hundred percent. One-hundred percent. Obviously childhood trauma is something you can’t help, but if you know what it feels like to be the one on the receiving end of such trauma, don’t inflict it on others, because that’s exactly what he does. So yes, I feel bad for him and I don’t think any kid deserves that, ever.”
Dricus Du Plessis Was Giving Sean Strickland a Taste of His Own Medicine
Sean Strickland has made a habit out of punching below the belt when dealing with other fighters. Before things blew up with Du Plessis, ‘Tarzan’ had launched a campaign against rising welterweight contender Ian Machado Garry and his 40-year-old wife, Layla Anna-Lee, dubbing her a “succubus” and “predator” after learning that she had once written a book on how to date and marry young athletes.
Du Plessis simply felt like he was giving the 185-pound titleholder a taste of his own medicine.
“If you go after other people, eventually they’re going to come after you,” du Plessis said. “And I think he’s used to being the bully and he’s not used to being bullied. But I don’t have to hammer on that. I already won that fight, I won that press conference. I don’t want to keep on hammering on the same thing. Yes, he cried on Theo Von’s podcast. I guess it was terrible, and like I said, no kid deserves that. No kid deserves to go through that. But if you want to dish it out, you better take it. And like I said, I have mad respect for him as a fighter, even as a person. He’s always been a straight-up guy. Even the fact that he tried to fight me in the crowd, that was him being a man.
“What I’m saying is, if you want to dish it out, be able to take it, man, or you’re just a hypocrite. You didn’t deserve that as a kid, but as a grown man, you dish it out, you’re going to get it. That is the way the world works, unfortunately. And like I said, with this mindset going to this fight, I think he’s going to come out and fight the way Sean Strickland fights. My mindset, I don’t care about him. I care about me, what I do, what I go out there to do, and that is become the world champion.
“Whether he’s angry, whether he’s not, does he have motivation — I see everybody talking about Sean Strickland having muscle now,” du Plessis continued. “Well, welcome to being a professional. I’ve had it my whole career. Nice, you have abs for the first time, I’m really happy for you. But that’s what you should look like as a professional athlete. Good job. I’m really happy that I can motivate you get some abs. But it doesn’t bother me. Good luck with those abs, I’ve been fighting with mine for years.”
Du Plessis does believe there is such a thing as going too far. ‘Stillknocks’ specifically referenced Colby Covington’s vile dig about Leon Edwards’ deceased father during last month’s UFC 296 press event in Las Vegas.
However, he does believe that there is a big difference in what Covington said compared to his own words about Strickland’s rough upbringing.
“I don’t agree with what Colby did. Talking about somebody’s dead family, that is 100 percent stepping over a line, 100 percent,” du Plessis said.
“It’s not something to be taken lightly, and definitely not something to be joked about. Now when I said what I said about Sean Strickland, I didn’t joke about it. I spoke the truth, because he’s been very outspoken about it. He spoke about it. He was making jokes about it. I was never joking about it. I just stated facts. I never joked about it, not once.”
Watch the full interview below:
