The war between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 left ‘Tarzan’ without the belt and a bloodied face. So, why exactly did Strickland come up short? According to the former middleweight champ, it was all because of one dirty move by DDP. Strickland claimed that Du Plessis headbutted him, which resulted in a cut that obscured his vision. The undisputed middleweight champ refused it to be true, but ‘Tarzan’ doubled down on his claims ahead of his
During the media day presser for UFC 312, a reporter pointed out that when Strickland fought Israel Adesanya, he had nothing to lose, and that’s why he won. But at UFC 297, he was fighting not to lose. He then asked the American how he plans to adjust his mindset before the rematch. Strickland said, “That only happened because that dirty f—ing Dutchman hit me with a headbutt. You know how it is? Like how much blood you got running through your eyes? It would have been an easy fight if it wasn’t for that. I’m gonna put that — back on a short bus. I’m gonna send him to f—ing preschool.”
No doubt, Strickland’s response was thrown at DDP as a question. Du Plessis replied, “It only felt like a headbutt, man. My right hand is really, really hard. But it wasn’t a headbutt, you know. It wasn’t a headbutt. There’s evidence all over, you can see the video footage. Everything is there where the eye is already bleeding before where he shows the headbutt. It was a right hand.” ‘Stillknocks’ claimed to have remembered throwing a right hand and seeing the cut open above Strickland’s eye.
And the connection happened quite a few times throughout the bout. ‘Stillknocks’ continued, “Later in the fight, I mean, don’t you wrestle with your head? The head was there. I mean, I saw what he showed, but he was already bleeding then. And that was definitely no headbutt. There was rubbing. Our heads were rubbing against each other as you would when you wrestle. That’s why we have cauliflower ears.”
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Of course, this wasn’t the first time Sean Strickland lashed out at Dricus Du Plessis for the alleged headbutt. He has been sour over it ever since he lost the bout against him. However, Eric Nicksick, Strickland’s head coach and corner had a different point of view.
Coach reveals the real reason that led to Sean Strickland’s defeat against Dricus Du Plessis
Talking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Nicksick revealed that the reason the judges scored the bout against ‘Tarzan’ was because he failed to show them variety in his performance. He said, “Win a little bit more of the optics battle. Sean is death by 1,000 paper cuts when it comes to the jab, right? But sometimes, judges need to see variety. Even if it was just a kick to the body or teep, it got away from death by 1,000 paper cuts via jabs.”
On the other hand, Daniel Cormier was also fed up with Strickland’s repeated complaints. During a recent conversation with Chael Sonnen on the Good Guy/Bad Guy podcast, the former heavyweight champion said, “He’s [Sean] harping on it too much, at least in my opinion.” No doubt, blood in his eyes rendered him partially immobile but letting the injury define his entire narrative was something that DC didn’t appreciate.
Nevertheless, we will get a chance to see the true battle between Strickland and Du Plessis this weekend at UFC 312. The banter leading up to this bout has been nothing short of engaging for us fans, only adding to our excitement for the fight. What are your thoughts on Strickland’s claims about the headbutt? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
The post “Eye Is Already Bleeding”- Sean Strickland & Dricus Du Plessis Engage in Heated Debate on Headbutt Controversy Before UFC 312 appeared first on EssentiallySports.