Pros React After Du Plessis Beats Strickland – ‘A Man On A Mission’

Dricus Du Plessis beat Sean Strickland for the second time at UFC 312 to retain his UFC Middleweight Title, as MMA pros reacted to the win.

The champion secured a unanimous decision win in a dominant performance. He broke Strickland’s nose and prevented the American from getting a foothold. Sean only won a single round across all three scorecards. Their first fight was controversial, with many feeling Sean had done enough to win. This time, there was no debate. In his post-fight comments, Du Plessis declared himself a top-three P4P fighter. The other contenders would be Islam Makhachev and Alex Pereira. Those two fighters have been linked with Du Plessis.

Islam has said he feels he can move up to middleweight and dethrone the champ. Meanwhile, Du Plessis is on record, saying the weight and power would be too much for Islam. Makhachev has expressed his desire to take this fight after suggestions he does not want to move up to welterweight. The current champion in that weight class is Belal Muhammad, who is a close friend of Islam.   

Pereira’s name was mentioned after Du Plessis beat Israel Adesanya at UFC 305. Alex expressed his desire to move down for the middleweight belt. But that is unlikely since the weight cut would be extremely difficult. Meanwhile, Dricus has also said that his preference is to make that fight at light heavyweight. Pereira is the champion there, as Du Plessis knows a win makes him a two-weight UFC Champion. Du Plessis was delighted with his win, while MMA pros had plenty to say. 

Reaction

“I’m trying to knock this man out, to knock him out is next to impossible. I’d love another round, but that’s not the game. I gave it my all, I’m sorry I couldn’t get him out of here. “It was really hard, once I saw him grabbing at his nose, [to stay calm]. It took me about 30 seconds to a minute to get everything back to composure,” Du Plessis said 

“The game plan was to stay calm, and that was really hard once I saw him grabbing at his nose like that. It’s like having someone in front of you who is rocked. It took me 30 seconds to a minute to get back my composure. I don’t want to make a habit of [going to decision], but against a competitor like [Strickland], it happens,” Du Plessis added 

Full Results

Dricus du Plessis (c) def Sean Strickland via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 49-46)

Zhang Weili (c) def. Tatiana Suarez via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-45)

Tallison Teixeira def. Justin Tafa via first-round knockout (elbow, punches)

Rodolfo Bellato vs. Jimmy Crute ends in majority draw (28-28, 28-28, 29-27)

Jake Matthews def. Francisco Prado via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Gabriel Santos def. Jack Jenkins via third-round submission (rear naked choke)

Tom Nolan def. Viacheslav Borshchev via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Wang Cong def. Bruna Brasil via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Aleksandre Topuria def. Colby Thicknesse via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Rongzhu def. Kody Steele via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Jonathan Micallef def. Kevin Jousset via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Quillan Salkilld def. Anshul Jubli via first-round knockout (punch)

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