SUMMARY
- Strickland and Dricus du Plessis were seated in the same rows at UFC 296, which led to a violent altercation.
- Robert Whittaker accuses Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland of faking the UFC 296 brawl.
Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland’s brawl during UFC 296 has become the biggest talking point after the event. The incident has attracted many comments and opinions from fans, fighters, and experts, including the former two-division champion, Robert Whittaker. The Former Champ has strongly commented on the incident to throw some shade on the current UFC Middleweight titleholder.
Strickland and Dricus du Plessis were seated in the same rows at UFC 296 which led to a violent altercation. After a brief exchange of words, the Middleweight Champion jumped toward the No. 2-ranked division contender, Dricus Du Plessis.
The incident was brushed off by Whittaker as staged. The former Middleweight Champion shared his opinion on the brawl on his MMArcade Podcast. Whittaker stated, “I thought it was staged, mate, honestly. Because it was weird. It was weird the way it happened. You saw the way Strickland was like, ‘Move aside, please.’ Makes sense, but then he jumps in like WWE style”.
Full altercation between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 296 pic.twitter.com/o2O7BhjhVY
— Ben Davis (@BenTheBaneDavis) December 17, 2023
Whittaker further added, “The way he was punching, the way he was kind of like, I don’t know, fake punching to the back of Dricus. Maybe it was just for entertainment, and which case, you can’t really give him anything for it. I don’t know. It’s a bit silly. He’s the champ. It was a weird little scuffle, I am gonna say.”
Robert Whittaker also wasn’t fond of Sean Strickland’s comments at the seasonal press conference. He pointed out that he isn’t as one-dimensional as Strickland tried to paint him at the press conference. He concluded by stating that he has some other tricks that will be on full display when he goes toe to toe against Paulo Costa at UFC 299.
UFC president Dana White blamed himself for the brawl at UFC 296
Dana White came out and blamed himself for the brawl between Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis. As per the UFC CEO, the seating arrangement wasn’t ideal, as the two middleweights shouldn’t be up close to each other ahead of their clash.
White commented on the brawl at the post-fight press conference, stating, “So, what kind of an a**hole sits Strickland next to du Plessis? This a**hole. That’s who. I do every sitting assignment every week. How f*cking stupid is that? I mean, seriously. Well, I don’t know what humans you can sit Strickland next to, but definitely not du Plessis. I don’t even know how I missed that”.
Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland are set to face each other in the title bout, as Strickland will defend his middleweight title at UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada, in January 2024. The clash has heightened the anticipation for the clash, which is the silver lining for Dana White in this whole incident.
Even though White publicly admitted that this brawl was a mistake, the promotion didn’t shy away from using the incident to promote their next event. The official social media accounts of the UFC shared the brawl to attract more eyeballs for the fight. UFC 296 was the last UFC event of 2023, which rounded off a successful year for the American promotion.