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UFC fighter Sean Strickland lost his middleweight championship title to South African MMA fighter Dricus du Plessis on January 20. Du Plessis won through a split decision and won the Middleweight Championship, which Strickland had won at UFC 293 after defeating New Zealand’sIsraelAdesanyain September 2023.
Dricus du Plessis received a swollen eye, and Strickland received cuts on the right side of his face. Many fans compared Strickland’s bloodied face during the fight to that of Kratos from the legendary gameGod of War.
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Sean Strickland Vs. Dricus Du Plessis
American MMA fighterSean Stricklandfought South African Dricus du Plessis to defend his UFC Middleweight Championship at UFC 297, in Scotiabank Arena, Canada. The fight lasted five rounds with many kicks and punches thrown at each other. Strickland lost the bout to Dricus du Plessis despite winning the final round. Du Plessis won on a split decision.
The fight reportedly leaned towards du Plessis after he won rounds 2, 3 and 4. Strickland won the first and final rounds but reportedly gave quite a good fight to du Plessis. Sean Strickland seceded his Middleweight Championship to Dricus du Plessis, which the former had won in 2023 after his fight withIsraelAdesanya.
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Dricus du Plessis reportedly draped himself with the South African flag after his victory and gave a speech about his win. He said (viaMMA Fighting),
“If we go quiet right now, you can probably hear South Africa from here right now!… Sean Strickland, you said to death. I tried to kill you. You are one hell of a man.”
Sean Strickland too seceded the victory with honor as he called du Plessis a champ. The fight resulted in many cuts and bruises for the duo. Strickland called the match a war. Though du Plessis won the match, many considered the win lucky and mentioned that the game could have gone either way.
Also read:“The closest thing we have to a real life Trevor”: Fans Compare White T-shirt Sean Strickland With Trevor After His Brawl With Dricus Du Plessis At UFC 296
Sean Strickland Goes Full Kratos Against Dricus Du Plessis
Dricus du Plessis remained undefeated in his UFC tenure with his winning bout against Sean Strickland. Du Plessis had won his previous match against Robert Whittaker in a technical knockout and won the Performance of the Night Award for his skills. Du Plessis was supposed to fight Israel Adesanya for the UFC Middleweight Championship but was reportedly replaced with Sean Strickland after du Plessis suffered an injury.
Sean Strickland won the championship against Adesanya and fought against du Plessis at UFC 297. Though Dricus du Plessis won the championship via split decision, many considered it an even fight and stated that du Plessis’ performance was not as powerful as it was against Whittaker.
Both fighters received injuries with du Plessis getting his right eye swollen and Strickland getting cuts on the right side of his face. The blood dripping from Strickland’s face formed a pattern in which many compared him to Kratos from the gameGod of War. The former Middleweight Champion seemed to have channeled the warrior demigod in round 5 of the game as he jabbed and punched du Plessis and won the round.
Sean Strickland went full God of War! 🤯#UFC297pic.twitter.com/2bi2TdeGGi
Even Kratos was a better person lol
Strickland won that fight.
Wish he would fight like it when it mattered
https://twitter.com/MmaUnderdogs/status/1748959208026878063
“I think Dricus Du Plessis beat Sean Strickland in that round”The round:#ufc297pic.twitter.com/iMUOHOKzzx
strickland fans when jabbing for 25 minutes isnt enough😢
Despite his power in the final round of the match, Sean Strickland seemed to have been unlucky as Dricus du Plessis won on a technicality. Fans of Sean ‘Tarzan’ Strickland were outraged over the loss as many felt that he was robbed of his championship. However, others were more critical of Strickland’s performance with many bringing up his underwhelming performance.
Nishanth A
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2419
Nishanth A is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows with over 2,000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years and a scriptwriter at various corporations before that, working on educational content. With a Communications, English Literature, and Psychology triple major, Nishanth usually covers news and analyses on Star Trek, particularly Strange New Worlds and The Next Generation; Doctor Who, the DCU, and more.A Nolan fan, Nishanth spends his time exploring the filmographies of various directors with an auteurial style or can be found making short movies of his own. He has also contributed as a feature writer for Film Companion, focusing on the South division.
