Sean Strickland has resumed taking jibes at Dricus Du Plessis. In a matter of days, he will defend his belt against the South African in 2024’s first PPV, UFC 297. A lot is at stake, but is the champion intimidated? No, far from it. He appears to have unleashed his outspoken personality yet again, and the challenger is his most recent victim. Throughout the build-up of the fight, Strickland has time and time again taken shots at Dricus Du Plessis and his coach.

It was only inevitable for him to surge his disses as the fight came closer. However, in a recent interview, he made a startling claim and request from his opponent. His comments deserve your attention.

Sean Strickland has a ‘request’ for Dricus Du Plessis

The relationship between the South African and his coach, Morne Visser is quite scrutinized. The primary reason is that he has been seen hugging and kissing his coach after his victories. This caught the attention of the MMA world who made sure to make a buzz surrounding it. Alongside trolling, many serious speculations were also being drawn about their relationship. Meanwhile, Strickland knew exactly what to do – capitalize on certain narratives and poke the bear.

In a recent interview with TNT Sport, Strickland was asked what would be unique from him in this fight. In his response, he made it evident that he was going to perform, fight, and speak exactly like how he had in the past and did not have anything special in mind for this one. He followed it up with a snide remark about Du Plessis.

The champion said, “Don’t let your coach come and f*ck you,” because “It ain’t right.” He set the record straight by confirming, ” You are just getting me, dude.” His comments are typical of his usual trash talk standards, and this particular one seems to be his favorite dig at ‘Stillknocks’ because he often reiterates it. However, Dricus Du Plessis is far from intimidated and finds Strickland to be a hypocrite.

Du Plessis highlights one thing that will cost Strickland fans’ respect

Strickland had a troubled childhood, to say the least. Du Plessis brought that up during their trash talk which struck a nerve. More recently, he was seen crying on Theo Von’s podcast over his traumatic past and had some resentment towards fighters who use it to their advantage to get one up in mental warfare.

This reaction from Strickland is not warranted according to the South African.  “He had a lot to say about Khalil Rountree crying, how weak of a man, ‘beta male’ Khalil was for crying. Then he goes and does the same thing,” said the challenger. He added, “The hypocrisy is what, that’s the one area where people could lose respect for Sean Strickland.” 

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