Dricus Du Plessis has opened up on his UFC 296 brawl against Sean Strickland.
Du Plessis is set to fight Strickland in the main event of UFC 297 on Jan. 20 in Toronto for the middleweight title. It’s an intriguing matchup and ahead of the bout, the two had a press conference in Vegas before UFC 296.
According to Dricus Du Plessis, he believes he already frustrated Sean Strickland at the press conference and thinks he got into his head.
“Obviously, you know, this is a big mental game. This whole fight thing is a mental game for me. (Press conferences are) all fun and games. But at the end of the day, that’s part of it. That’s part of the fight, what happens in that press conference. That’s a fight before the fight just like the weigh-in is,” Du Plessis said on The Coach & The Casual. “There’s nothing you could possibly say to throw me off. And I said cool. I’m gonna start chipping away and see where when I get this. He looks like a guy that he’s not gonna be easy to freak because he dishes it out. The first thing I said (did it), and that was only the beginning.
“He’s so glad it was the end, I had so much more to go. Oh my God, I was so ready, and that was the first thing I said to this guy! I thought, ‘Oh, he’s acting,’ and then I saw like, ‘I really got him.’ Okay. I did all this homework, and I did all this preparation for this, and now the first thing I say come on,” Du Plessis continued.
After the press conference, the two ended up attending UFC 296 and were just a row apart from one another.
Dricus Du Plessis details UFC 296 brawl with Sean Strickland
With Du Plessis and Strickland being so close to each other, the two were trash-talking one another for quite some time.
The full incident between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis at #UFC296 tonight.
Bring on #UFC297 in January! pic.twitter.com/HQt0Uj1jiv
— UFC (@ufc) December 17, 2023
Then, after the trash-talk continued, Strickland leaped over the chair to start punching Du Plessis as all hell broke loose.
“He turned around and did the whole gun thing and I (pretended to dodge it). He turned back around, and he was just so frustrated, and I said ‘even with the gun you are missing.’ He kind of look around, and I said ‘yeah, look in front of you before I beat your ass.’ He turned around, Gilbert Burns’ kid was right there and he leaned over to say something and I said okay cool something might go down. I took Gilbert’s kid, and I said sorry kid, and I moved these two chairs and said ‘come on then.’ Then, we were looking at each other, he said something and I said something, and it was was like almost the end, but then I turned and he turned away and just jumped. I thought it was over, and he just jumped. Here we go.
“It was crazy because we were in between a lot of fighters. It was so crazy, the vibe after the whole thing happened. Usually, if you’re in a social setting like that and something like that happens, some people are crying. But you just see all the fighters like ‘Yeah! Yeah!” Du Plessis added.
“I mean, when people sue each other in South Africa, that’s for, like, real stuff, not little stuff,” Du Plessis said. “If he hit me with a chair from behind or whatever, that is causes for some concern. But it was a good old-fashioned scrap. It was mutual combat. Yeah.”
According to Du Plessis, he says Strickland didn’t land anything major which only gives him more confidence ahead of UFC 296.
