‘It’s war’ — cool Dricus du Plessis and fiery Sean Strickland face off for UFC middleweight title

he final words have been exchanged as South African UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis prepares to defend his belt against America’s Sean Strickland in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday morning.

If successful, it will be Du Plessis’s second title defence, having beaten Strickland for the belt in January 2024 before defending the middleweight crown in August against Israel Adesanya, also in Australia.

Du Plessis cut a cool, calm figure at the pre-fight press conference on Thursday, while Strickland was more fiery and animated, trying to rile up the Sydney crowd and Du Plessis with everything he said.

Strickland was the clear favourite as fans cheered as he entered, while boos rang out before Du Plessis took his seat. Over the past 12 months Strickland has disputed the five-round split decision victory Du Plessis recorded over him.

“According to some blind judge the Dutchman won, and I’ll give it to him, but he’s not winning Sunday,” Strickland said.

Du Plessis was hesitant to make predictions for their second meeting but would be aiming to knock out his opponent, which he failed to do previously.

“After a first fight like that, [predicting] a method of victory is quite hard,” Du Plessis said. “I’m going out there looking for that finish from the first bell and if it has to go to the last bell, I’ll be looking for that knockout from the word go until the end of the fight.”

Strickland, with his swift verbal jabs, has once again vowed a “war” between the two men.

“The man has a cinder block for a head,” Strickland said. “You’ve seen him the next day, the guy can take damage.

“We’re probably going to have a five-round war. I’m going to try to put his ass down, he’s going to try to put my ass down.

“One of us is going to get fucked up, it ain’t going to be me. To the death, I think the Dutchman can agree.

“We’re going to put on a war and that’s a promise both of us can make you guys.”

Du Plessis was willing to concede that he did headbutt Strickland in their first face-off at UFC 297, which led to Strickland’s face being bathed in blood, but he did so more in resignation.

Same side

There seems to be no serious hatred between the two fighters, like there was between Du Plessis and Adesanya, instead a certain amount of respect between two men whose political ideologies – about which they have been vocal in the build-up to the bout – seem to lie on the same side of the spectrum.

On the media day on Wednesday, Du Plessis wore a black T-shirt on which “Trump prefers champions x” was printed. He and his opponent seem to be vying for the American president’s attention.

“Trump being re-elected is absolutely incredible. I think he’s an amazing president,” Du Plessis said on Wednesday. “I’ve had the privilege of meeting him.

“He said this, with everything going on right now, change is coming, good changes. He’s holding a lot of people [and] countries accountable for everything and it’s amazing to see.

“Being a champion, he said he wants champions in his team. He said it on X (previously Twitter). Big shout-out to fellow South African Elon Musk for also doing the right thing.”

Strickland has never hidden his political views, alluding in the pre-fight press conference that co-main event star and his training partner leading up to UFC 312, Tatiana Suarez, belongs in the kitchen.

“I come to this country and I speak about freedom of speech and guns and taxes and you’ve got these communists in the media trying to put me down,” Strickland said when asked about a headline in Australian newspaper Daily Telegraph reading “Please knock this guy out”, over the views he has shared while in the country.

“Why? Because you want to control the media and don’t like freedom of speech.”

Du Plessis and Adesanya fought over something bigger than the exchange of the middleweight belt in their dispute over Du Plessis’s “African-ness” creating a larger narrative.

Du Plessis and Strickland, however, seem like old friends sharing friendly banter. Their actions in the octagon on Sunday morning will determine how merciless the promised “war” will go with the title on the line. DM