SUMMARY
- Dricus du Plessis talked about the reason behind his brawl against Sean Strickland at UFC 296.
- Sean Strickland will defend his Middleweight title against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297.
Dricus du Plessis has had a busy week ahead of his title fight next month. Taking on Sean Strickland at UFC 297 for the middleweight strap, the two have gotten quite familiar with each other already.
Recently, du Plessis and Strickland came face-to-face for the first time since the announcement of their fight. In what was a welcome return, the two fighters were present for the 2024 Seasonal Press Conference. Notably, Sean Strickland, Alexander Volkanovski, Sean O’Malley, and their respective opponents were all present. However, it was the two big men that stole the show.
Moreover, their little drama carried on over to the next day when they got into a brawl at UFC 296. Speaking on The Coach And The Casual podcast, Dricus said, “I just saw that he (Strickland) was so irritated. Then he turned around and did the whole gun thing. Further, the South African added fuel to the fire by saying, “I said ‘Even with that gun, you’re missing’ and then ‘Look in front of you before I beat your a**’.”
Thus, Dricus admits to instigating the fight between the two of them. Although it seemed as though he got the worst of it, the 29-year-old still appeared to be fine. On the other hand, ‘Tarzan‘ was quickly apprehended and escorted out of the arena on the night.
Dricus du Plessis has been accused of lying about the UFC 296 brawl
As such, Dricus du Plessis went on to explain the ordeal in more detail, speaking to Ramsey Nijem and his co-host. Further, ‘Stillknocks‘ spoke about moving Gilbert Burns’ son out of harm’s way before proceeding to have a bit of dialogue with Strickland. As such, Dricus claims that both he and Sean felt like the matter was done, and he almost alluded to Sean trying to pull a sneaky one on him.
Here, Dricus said, “I just took Gilbert’s kid and said, “‘Sorry kid’, and he (Strickland) moved (Alexandre) Pantoja’s kids, and then there was one chair in between us”. Additionally, he stated, “We were looking at each other and it was almost like he said something and I said something, and it was almost like, ‘Okay that’s the end of the story.’ I turned away but still looked at him and he turned away and then he just jumped (at me)”.
For the most part, fans online have found a lot of faults in Dricus’ iteration of the story. For one, many pointed out that it was actually Strickland who moved the kids out of the way. Additionally, the middleweight champ immediately leaped at du Plessis after the kids moved. As such, people are now accusing the South African of twisting the narrative to make himself look better.
Further, many even pointed out Burns’ wife’s comments, which match what can be seen in the footage. Moreover, many were not pleased by the fact that he took a page out of Colby Covington’s book and made a comment about Sean’s father. All things considered, Dricuis truly has the fan base divided for now. Whether he can win against the ‘Tarzan’, only time will tell.