SUMMARY
- Sean Strickland warned Dricus Du Plessis to not bring up the former's rough upbringing.
- Strickland threatened to stab Du Plessis at the UFC 297 press conference or weigh-in.
Sean Strickland threatened to go the distance and cause severe damage to Dricus Du Plessis if the South African talked about Strickland’s childhood again. The American claimed he would stab Du Plessis and was ready to go to jail in Canada if needed.
On his YouTube channel, Strickland discussed his UFC 297 opponent with Chris Curtis. ‘Tarzan’ revisited Du Plessis’ comments about his rough childhood during the UFC Seasonal Press Conference. Following that, Strickland jumped over chairs to start a brawl with Du Plessis at UFC 296 in the crowd.
Before the brawl, Du Plessis was spotted speaking to Strickland from behind. It is likely, ‘Stillknocks’ talked about his childhood again to trigger such a response.
Strickland said, “Remember when I attacked Dricus? I actually sent him a message… ‘Dude listen, Dricus, we’re gonna go try to murder each other, but if you bring that sh*t up again, I will f*cking stab you. Press conference, weigh-in.”
A few weeks ago, Strickland claimed there are a few things “off-limits” while talking about someone. In that list, Strickland included his rough childhood. The UFC middleweight champion even broke down during that conversation with Theo Von.
In his latest YouTube video, Strickland also claimed Du Plessis was “cool” about his threat. He added, “If I go to Canada and you [Du Plessis] bring that [Strickland’s rough childhood] up, guess what? I’m gonna go to jail, they’re gonna deport me and we spent eight weeks of training for no (expletive) reason.”
Du Plessis, on the other hand, was not impressed by Strickland’s initial comments. He believes the American is a hypocrite.
Dricus Du Plessis calls out Sean Strickland’s hypocrisy regarding his “off-limits” comments
After the UFC 296 brawl, Du Plessis slammed Strickland for being triggered. In an interview with ESPN, Du Plessis said, “Man, if you want to dish it out, you have to be able to take it, but yeah, the fact that he’s triggered, I don’t give a damn about that.”
UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland breaks down in Tears on the Theo Von podcast… pic.twitter.com/KThGXfsoNb
— Fight Haven (@FightHaven) January 3, 2024
On Theo Von‘s podcast early in January 2024, Strickland said, “There’s some things that are off limits… You don’t really talk about a man’s wife, you don’t talk about a man’s kids, and you don’t about a kid being abused. These things are all off-limits. Once he crossed that … I tried to f—king ignore it. I was boiling.”
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour on January 15, 2024, Du Plessis called out Strickland’s hypocrisy. ‘Stillknocks’ mentioned how Strickland called Khalil Rountree “a weak man” for crying but he also broke down on Theo Von’s podcast. Du Plessis also mentioned the things Strickland said about UFC fighter Ian Garry and his wife.
Du Plessis added, “It wasn’t his place to say anything. That’s the one thing in this whole situation where I feel, Sean, whatever he says, it doesn’t matter because – he’s a funny character, I actually quite enjoy him – the hypocrisy is the one area where people could lose respect for Sean Strickland.”
Strickland, who defeated Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 to win the UFC middleweight title, will defend his title against Du Plessis at UFC 297. The first UFC PPV of the year will take place on January 20, 2024, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada.
