UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis has branded Sean Strickland’s demand to make their fight stand-up only ‘Ridiculous’ ahead of their rematch at UFC 312 next month.
“Look, it’s a ridiculous thing to ask,” Du Plessis told Fox Sports Australia. “If you want to make pacts about us just standing up, go do boxing. I don’t go into fights thinking I have to stand up or take the guy down. I do what the situation tells me to do. That’s what MMA fighters do, I’m comfortable everywhere.”
That being said, DDP did admit that there’s a good chance a lot of the fight will take place on the feet.
“One hundred percent, I think we are most likely going to keep it standing,” du Plessis said. “I know I have the cardio, know I can push him back, and I know I have the power to knock him out, so for me that’s great. Then, if the opportunity comes to get a takedown, it’s a decision you have to make immediately. If you see the moment you take it.”
Du Plessis went on to suggest that despite strickland’s ‘tough-guy’ talk, the reality is that he doesn’t back up his words with action once he gets into the Octagon.
“He said ‘to the death’ and I was ready for that,” Du Plessis said. “You saw it, too, I went forward for 23 minutes of a 25-minute fight. But from him? It was jabs and teeps. Against Paulo Costa next fight, same thing. So to the death?
“Sean Strickland knows a lot of one-liners to sound tough, but I expose fake tough guys. And as for him now again saying ‘Let’s make this pact?’ What’s the purpose of a pact after we saw what happened the last time? Plus, I’m not here to make pacts, I’m here to win.”
