Sean Strickland came prepared for his title defense. He made a surprising move by having former rival and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira in his corner for his fight against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297. However, that wasn’t enough for Strickland to emerge victorious as du Plessis created history at the Scotiabank Arena.

The UFC middleweight champion and the title challenger had a heated back-and-forth in the build-up to their championship fight. However, Sean Strickland recently squashed the beef with Dricus du Plessis and made a gentlemen’s agreement to put on a great fight for the fans. Meanwhile, the result turned out in ‘Stillknocks’s favor as he became the first South African to win the UFC title and it did not take much time for him to get a callout.

Khamzat Chimaev calls out Dricus du Plessis post-UFC 297 triumph

Dricus du Plessis called out Israel Adesanya to come back for a fight against him. However, another fight made his thoughts known about challenging for the title, and it was none other than Khamzat Chimaev. ‘Borz’ took to Twitter (X) and expressed an interest in fighting the South African sensation for the title at the monumental triple-century event, UFC 300.

“See you soon biplisi ufc300,” wrote Khamzat Chimaev. Although he’s expressed an interest in fighting for the title, Dricus du Plessis calling out the former two-time champion could tempt Dana White and the UFC to pit ‘Borz’ against Israel Adesanya for the number one contender’s match. However, we will have to wait for further developments on that front. Meanwhile, let us take a look at how the fight went down between du Plessis and Sean Strickland.

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Split decision win for ‘Stillknocks’

The middleweight champion walked out to the Octagon with loud cheers from the crowd for his 21st UFC fight. Meanwhile, the fight started with both Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis sizing up each other with some strikes. ‘Tarzan’ made use of his impressive jabs and even canceled the calf kicks from the South African. However, du Plessis was able to land one takedown in the opening round, although Strickland quickly got up. The champion closed the round with a big right-handed strike.

Sean Strickland put the pressure on Dricus du Plessis in the second round. ‘Stillknocks’ missed a considerable amount of strikes in this round as ‘Tarzan’ continued to check his opponent’s leg kicks. However, du Plessis had a better performance in the second round, scoring yet another takedown. Nevertheless, Strickland quickly got up on his feet once again.

Dricus du Plessis started the third round with an impressive head kick. He kept going forward, attempting to put the pressure on the champion this time out. Sean Strickland, meanwhile, was taking his time to find the perfect time to land a significant strike. Both fighters had their chances of hitting each other as the fight started to be a close one, as per the statistics.

Strickland’s coach Eric Nicksick did not like the way the third round went down, suggesting he picked up the pace. Both fighters went toe-to-toe in the fourth round, trading strikes one after the other. Nevertheless, Dricus du Plessis scored yet another takedown and took the fight to Sean Strickland, cutting him open on the side of his left eye and scoring his sixth takedown. But the champion did not back down, landing one heavy right before the end of the round.

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It all came down to the final round and, in a turn of events, the crowd started to chant for du Plessis as well. The fans loved the fight both fighters put on in the main event. However, Sean Strickland was successfully landing some heavy shots on the South African. Moreover, when ‘Stillknocks’ attempted another couple of takedowns, Strickland was able to defend it well in the final round. As the fight entered the last minute, both fighters started to unload on each other. In the end, the round ended with a new champion in Dricus du Plessis. He was declared the winner by a split decision.

With a new champion crowned and a callout from Khamzat Chimaev, it will be interesting to see how Dana White navigates the middleweight division. Will he set up a title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya or will he bring Khamzat into the title picture for UFC 300? We will have to wait and see how that pans out.

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