Sean Strickland has very good reasons to think he has unfinished business with Dricus Du Plessis. After all, he lost an incredibly close and controversial decision (and his middleweight title) to the South African, which many feel should have gone the other way. That is why ‘Tarzan’ has been relentless in calling out ‘DDP’ since the loss, and has ratcheted it up after the reigning champ defeated Israel Adesanya on UFC 305 last night.

And since Du Plessis has been talking about a possible light heavyweight title bout against Alex Pereira, Strickland has taken to social media, to warn the champ that there is no escaping him. Strickland reminded ‘DDP’ that UFC CEO Dana White has already said that he was next in line for a title shot.

“You ain’t ducking me no matter how much how try in interviews! Dana said I’m next in line…. We’re bringing that belt back the America,” Strickland wrote on Instagram.

Many of course, may wonder why ‘Tarzan’ is so desperately calling out Du Plessis even after Dana White has confirmed he’s next. However, since Du Plessis is involved in a back-and-forth with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, and said that Robert Whittaker deserves a shot over Strickland, ‘Tarzan’ has good reasons to keep pestering and reminding ‘DDP’ that he is still going to fight him.

Du Plessis wants to fight Pereira for the light heavyweight title

Dricus Du Plessis wants to become a two-division concurrent champion of the UFC, like almost every other current champion in the Dana White-led promotion. Even as ‘Poatan’ offered to move down to middleweight and fight the South African for his old belt, ‘DDP’ had an alternative proposal.

“That’s going to happen. Everyone is going to say that. So stay at 205. If (Sean) Strickland is the next fight that people want to see — that’s the fight people want to see and that’s the fight people think is the next best guy – then that’s the fight that I want… So let me handle my business, you handle your business. You don’t have to cut the weight to have some sort of excuse. I’ll come up to 205 and we’ll sort it out there,” he said at the UFC 305 post-fight press conference.

Notice that Du Plessis is not as enthusiastic about fighting Strickland next, saying if the people want to see him fight ‘Tarzan’ next, only then would he fight the former champ. His tone when talking about fighting Strickland next is in sharp contrast to how he talks about wanting to fight Pereira, or even Robert Whittaker.

While some may accuse him of wanting to ‘duck’ Strickland because of how close their first fight was, it is a fact that a Pereira fight at 205 will be the biggest fight for him right now. Who do you think Dricus Du Plessis should fight next?