Ahead of their UFC 312 title rematch in the main event of UFC 312 in Australia on February 8th, Sean Strickland has called for his rival Dricus du Plessis to agree not to take the fight to the mat.
“I’m going to need you to be a f*cking man,” Strickland said. “I’m going to need you to stand up, not go to your knees, and we’re going to need to strike like men. I know you like to wrestle and you like to f*cking choke people out… but I’ll make a pact with you, you make a pact with me that we f*cking stand up like f*cking men and we settle this shit like men.”
However, it doesn’t seem as if du Plessis is interested in agreeing to anything Strickland suggests.
“There are no pacts between lions and men,” du Plessis responded to Strickland.
DDP previously beat Strickland by split-decision to win the title in January of last year. On that occasion du Plessis was counted as having landed six out of his eleven takedown attempts, and judging by Strickland’s latest demand it seems he may have pinpointed that as the reason he came out on the wrong-end of the judges verdict.
However, du Plessis may well see that as even more incentive to pursue takedowns this time around, although he too does generally prefer to keep the action standing for the most part.
