Du Plessis Avoided Pressing Charges On Strickland; Nate Diaz’s Potential UFC Return

January 12, 2024

4 months

Du Plessis Avoided Pressing Charges On Strickland; Nate Diaz's Potential UFC Return

Dricus Du Plessis opened up about the possibility of pressing charges against Sean Strickland ahead of their UFC 297 clash.

Both men will battle on January 20, 2024, as Strickland makes the first defence of his middleweight title. He picked up the belt after beating Israel Adesanya via a unanimous decision to shock the world at UFC 293. Du Plessis and Strickland just happened to be in attendance at UFC 296 to watch Leon Edwards defend his welterweight title against Colby Covington.

They were seated near each other as Strickland reacted after Du Plessis’ comments in their build-up. The South African mentioned Strickland’s past, which was characterized by abuse at the hands of his father. Strickland reacted angrily, hitting out at the South African. Du Plessis had the chance to press charges but refrained since it would have jeopardized the fight.

Du Plessis On Strickland

“I know Dana came to me and said, ‘Listen, this is the case. We’re really sorry about this. Obviously, the police had him and charges can be pressed because that’s assault. It’s outside of a professional arena. They didn’t try to convince me otherwise at all.

“They literally said, ‘If you feel like that was uncalled for, we completely understand if you want to press charges and take this further.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, no, no. Please no.’ We are two fighters. It was a good old scrap like we did before we became professionals. I just paused and was like, ‘I would even take the blame if that’s possible, just to make sure that nothing happens to him,” Du Plessis said

Nate Diaz At UFC 300

Elsewhere, Nate Diaz is open to the possibility of fighting at UFC 300.

Diaz’s last UFC fight was in 2022 when he beat Tony Ferguson at UFC 279. Since then, he has boxed Jake Paul in his first-ever bout. He lost via a unanimous decision but hoped to secure a rematch. That failed as Paul wanted to run things back in MMA, which required Diaz to fight in the PFL.

A $10 million offer was made, but Diaz failed to accept it. Since then, he has been linked with a boxing fight against Jorge Masvidal. Masvidal recently announced he was coming out of retirement. Jake Paul replied by leaking Masvidal’s opponent, claiming it was Diaz. Ariled Helwani did confirm talks are ongoing for that fight, but Diaz’s comments suggest all options are on the table.

“I was supposed to headline UFC 200. Headline UFC 300 would be better,” Diaz stated

The current UFC card has only one title fight between Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan. Diaz is hoping to join the list of fighters below on the show.