SUMMARY
- Ben Askren leaks the real reason behind Robert Whittaker’s loss against Dricus du Plessis.
- The performance at UFC 290 helped Dricus du Plessis earn him the title fight against Sean Strickland.
Dricus du Plessis turned some heads when he defeated Robert Whittaker at UFC 290. The South African middleweight stopped Whittaker in the second round with a TKO. The performance was brought back into the spotlight by Ben Askren when he sat down with UFC legend Daniel Cormier.
Ben Askren was a guest on Cormier’s YouTube channel, where they discussed UFC 296 and the middleweight division in the UFC. The conversation naturally shifted to Dricus du Plessis, who will face Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January.
Askren started the conversation by discussing Dricus du Plessis’ fight against Whittaker: “I heard rumors that maybe Robert Whittaker wasn’t 100% full health but he is not kind of the guy who is gonna make excuses. I thought Robert Whittaker was the significant favorite there.” Cormier interrupted by stating that he had never seen Whittaker get beaten like that.
Askren was hesitant to reveal more details about the issue, but Cormier persuaded him to add more to his earlier comments. The former Olympic wrestler added that multiple people pointed out that Whittaker was injured before UFC 290.
Askren added, “I heard he was dealing with some pretty serious injuries and pulled out a handful of times, so he didn’t wanna pull out again. I don’t know how good my sources were but I heard it multiple times.” Cormier asked more about his sources, to which Askren replied, “It was something with his ankle where he couldn’t train very well. Both times I heard it, it was the same body part”.
The performance at UFC 290 helped Dricus du Plessis earn him the title fight against Strickland. These new revelations have added a new layer to the middleweight division and opened the door for Whittaker for a rematch against the South African.
Ben Askren on Sean Strickland vs Dricus du Plessis on UFC 297
The conversation between Ben Askren and Daniel Cormier shifted to the UFC 297 title fight. Cormier asked Askren whether these injury rumors hurt the excitement of the middleweight title fight as fans are excited for this clash mostly because of the dominating performance of Dricus du Plessis against Robert Whittaker.
Full altercation between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 296 pic.twitter.com/o2O7BhjhVY
— Ben Davis (@BenTheBaneDavis) December 17, 2023
Ben Askren agreed to a little extent by following it up with his take on why the fight between Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland will be an interesting one. As per Askren, Strickland has let people hit him before, and Dricus hit hard and hit awkwardly from different angles.
The awkward angles can create problems for ‘Tarzan’. Askren considers Strickland’s favorite ahead of the fight, but Dricus will connect a few times and shouldn’t be ruled out. For casuals, the hype for the fight is at an all-time high after their brawl at UFC 296 in the stands.
Robert Whittaker was among many who reacted to the brawl and had their opinion, which only added to the excitement. The middleweight division is bubbling up nicely for fans ahead of the new year. The first treat of excitement will be on January 20, 2024, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, when UFC 297 gets underway.