A few weeks ago at UFC 296, Sean Strickland jumped over a chair in the crowd and punched Doricus du Plessis.
Now, just days away from their main event fight at UFC 297, Strickland has put to rest any animosity he may have harbored against du Plessis, going so far as to call on the Toronto crowd on Saturday night to cheer on his opponent. reached. It was quite a change of pace after Strickland threatened to stab Du Plessis if the South African fighter brought up his childhood trauma again – the very topic of this December’s brawl. That was the trigger.
Instead, former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya grabbed a stray from the hyperactive Strickland.
“Here’s the thing about Dorikas: He’s not a fucking idiot — he likes to fight,” Strickland exclaimed. “He likes to fight, he’s a big brawler. You know what the implications of that are? We’re going to have sex in that range, nipple to nipple.
“I hope that when it’s over, win or lose, we’ll be bloody and put on a show for the motherfuckers. Let’s applaud him and encourage him. Because I Because we want war!”
Despite the scuffle and pre-fight threats, Strickland maintained that he had no real ill will towards du Plessis. Strickland actually handed the blame back to UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, who started some nasty trash talk at a separate press conference where they all shared the stage.
Other than that incident and the subsequent attack on du Plessis in the crowd, Strickland promised he had no problems with his next opponent. In fact, he praised his success in making du Plessis sick and angry in their last encounter.
“The point is, it was never personal,” Strickland said. “You made damn Sean O’Malley say something stupid that he knows nothing about. I’m hard on you guys. Do you think I don’t deserve shit? Mom, ****** I will do my best for all of you.
“I’m so proud of Ms. ******’s mom. I don’t really lose character, this mom got me there.”
Rather than jump over the table, Strickland reached out to du Plessis to help the fighters agree to give the Canadian crowd a memorable show on Saturday.
“I’ll tell you the truth, you guys, me and Dorikas, we’re going to kill each other for you,” Strickland said. “Dorikas, can I have you consent to this fucking death?” It’s so shitty that it kills me! God, I respect him for that. ”
The middleweights shook hands and acknowledged the unusual bet, which appeared to bury the hatchet between them.
The same cannot be said for Adesanya, who picked du Plessis to win at UFC 297 and defeated Strickland to become the new middleweight champion. Strickland did not come true with this prediction and sent Adesanya a harsh reminder of how their fight went.
“Listen, Izzy, you son of a bitch, you fucking general, the puppy is playing himself. Damn Izzy,” Strickland said. “I could have pulled Izzy down and slammed him to the ground, but I chose to be a man and stand with him. What was he doing the whole fight? Run away like an ab**** . Izzy, shut your fucking mouth.”
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