Javier Mendez, the world-renowned coach of UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov, shared his thoughts on one of the biggest news stories coming out of the promotion’s final pay-per-view event of the year.
On Saturday (December 16), the UFC wrapped up its 2023 with a stellar event inside T-Mobile Arena that saw Leon Edwards successfully defend his title against perennial contender Colby Covington. However, much of the news surrounding the festivities revolved around two fighters who didn’t even step inside the Octagon that night.
UFC 297 headliners Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis were sitting just a few feet away from one another when they were shown on the big screen to promote next month’s return to Toronto, Canada. Seconds later, after the live feed had already pulled away from them, Strickland lept over the row of seats and immediately started throwing hands with ‘Stillknocks’ in the middle of the crowd.
“They were heckling each other back and forth, but then Sean jumped over and started hitting on him,” Mendez said during a recent episode of his podcast. “That’s basically assault from the way I viewed it. The guy was at a distance, but Sean just jumped over and assaulted the guy. I don’t know how anybody else is going to view it any different.”
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
Thankfully, neither fighter appeared to be injured in the scuffle and Strickland was escorted out of the building moments after security had intervened.
Javier Mendez Believes DDP Could Have Had Strickland Arrested
Mendez isn’t exactly sure what caused Strickland to snap in this particular instance, but the AKA founder believes ‘Tarzan’ is lucky that Du Plessis didn’t pull a Colby Covington and call the cops on him.
“If this would have been a Colby type scenario, then Sean would probably be in trouble, but [Du Plessis] is not going to Colby him. He’s not going to call the authorities because if he did, I’m sorry, but they’d probably put an arrest warrant out for Strickland based on what he did. I didn’t see what was being said.
“Unless he said, ‘I’m gonna kill you’ or something. You say something like that then Sean’s got the right to protect himself, but if he’s not threatening his life or his family members, I don’t know.”
In March 2022, Covington famously altered local authorities in Miami after his former friend turned bitter rival Jorge Masvidal jumped him outside of a steakhouse, fracturing his tooth in the process.
Strickland’s issue with ‘Stillknocks’ likely stems from an unsavory comment he made about the middleweight champ’s history of growing up with an abusive father. Strickland slammed Du Plessis for making the line-crossing comment on social media and tensions clearly boiled over when they were foolishly sat near each other at UFC 296.
Watch the full episode below:
