Sean Strickland to defend title against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297

Sean Strickland – Sean Strickland at a UFC event walk in – CC BY-SA

UFC CEO Dana White has announced that UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland will defend his title against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297 in Toronto on January 20, 2024.

The fight will be Strickland’s (28-5) first title defense. He claimed the belt in an upset victory against Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 on September 10.

Strickland’s dominating performance against Adesanya in UFC 293 also secured his third Performance of the Night Bonus, adding an extra $50k to his purse.

On the other hand, Du Plessis (20-2) earned the title shot after beating Robert Whittaker via technical knockout in the second round of UFC 290 on July 9, 2023. With this victory, Du Plessis ascended to 6-0 in UFC and 20-2 in MMA.

Du Plessis and Adesanya should have met each other during UFC 293. However, “Stillknocks” ditched the fight due to a foot injury, leading to “Tarzan” facing off against “The Last Stylebender.”

White had criticized Du Plessis for turning down the title match. The South African fighter responded that he would not turn down fights without “a good enough reason,” referring to his foot injury.

Du Plessis instead of Chimaev

Before the announcement, fans had anticipated Strickland to defend his title against Khamzat Chimaev. White had also hinted so.

“Borz” recently returned to the Octagon following a one-year hiatus. He defeated Kamaru Usman via a majority decision in his comeback fight at UFC 294 in October.

Khamzat told reporters he had broken his right hand in his victory over “The Nigerian Nightmare.” However, manager Majdi Shammas later confirmed the Chechen fighter suffered a torn ligament instead.

It is speculated that the injury had hindered Chimaev from signing a fight against Strickland.

Dricus Du Plessis Rips Chael Sonnen Over Comments | The MMA Hour

Strickland himself is not very fond of White wanting him to defend his title against Chimaev. He argued that Chimaev had not earned the shot despite defeating Kamaru with an injured hand.

“The only thing I like about Chimaev is that he sells fights. For some reason, people f*cking like him or don’t like him, I don’t know. To me, he’s a f*cking paycheck. He sells a lot of fights. People pay to watch but he f*cking hasn’t earned it,” Strickland said.

“He doesn’t f*cking deserve it but here we are. Give it to him. He sells a lot of fights. I’ll go f*cking fight the man for five rounds. But no, he has not earned it. He doesn’t f*cking deserve it, and getting a decision with a welterweight off the couch does not f*cking earn it.”