Robert Whittaker: UFC didn’t love Sean Strickland as champ, will likely give Israel Adesanya title shot next

Dricus Du Plessis opened the vote to fans on who he should fight next, and Robert Whittaker has chimed in.

[autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] opened the vote to fans on who he should fight next, and [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] has chimed in.

Middleweight champion Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) asked fans if he should settle his grudge match with [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] next, or run things back with [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag], who he dethroned in a close decision win at UFC 297.

Fans voted in favor of Strickland (28-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC), who’s recently been campaigning for an immediate rematch with Du Plessis. But, considering Strickland’s controversial nature, Whittaker doubts the UFC will be on board.

“I don’t know, mate – me,” Whittaker said on his MMArcade Podcast. “Call me out you bum. I can see them making that Izzy fight because of the bad blood between them, because of South Africa and that whole story arc.

“I can’t really see the UFC getting behind Strickland again. I don’t think they loved him as a champ to begin with, so I don’t think they’re really gunning for that rematch. I don’t know.”

Whittaker (25-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC) suffered a TKO loss to Du Plessis at UFC 290 last July, but rebounded with an impressive performance over Paulo Costa at UFC 298. The former champion thinks Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) getting the next title shot benefits him, as he’s eyeing a fight with Strickland next.

“I’m kind of hoping Dricus gets Izzy in a sense, just so that I can fight Strickland,” Whittaker said.

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Sean Strickland rematch or Israel Adesanya next? UFC champ Dricus Du Plessis opens vote to fans

UFC champ Dricus Du Plessis is willing to consider fighting Sean Strickland again.

UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] is willing to consider fighting [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] again.

Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) defeated Strickland by split decision to claim the 185-pound title at UFC 297 in January. He is projected to make his first title defense against [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] – a fight the promotion tried to make for UFC 300 on April 13. Du Plessis turned it down due to not being recovered from injuries yet.

Strickland (28-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC) argued that he was robbed and called for a rematch. Du Plessis didn’t shut him down and instead pivoted to the fans to get their input.

Since this is a spectator sport What do you guys think @SStricklandMMA or @stylebender Just for the record it makes absolutely no difference to me the result will be the same.”

During the UFC 297 post-fight news conference, UFC CEO Dana White said he scored the fight for Strickland, after having it tied 2-2 going into Round 5. Du Plessis saw it completely differently.

“I agree I won 4 in a row.”

Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) hasn’t competed since losing his middleweight title to Strickland this past September at UFC 293. He announced that he’d be taking some time off, but is already ready to compete again.

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Dricus Du Plessis says injury prevented him from defending title vs. Israel Adesanya at UFC 300

Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis tells Israel Adesanya “you don’t dictate when I fight” in explaining why he couldn’t at UFC 300.

Middleweight champion [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] wasn’t healthy enough to make UFC 300.

[autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC), whom Du Plessis called out after he captured the middleweight title from Sean Strickland in January, revealed that Du Plessis rejected to fight him at UFC 300 on April 13.

Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) confirmed that he was approached for UFC 300, which would have been a less than three-month turnaround. However, the South African fighter says he injured both legs in his fight against Strickland and wasn’t about to defend his title while compromised.

“With the conversations of 300, that would’ve been a massive fight with me and Izzy,” Du Plessis said on Cameron Saaiman’s “MSP Show.” “It was on the table, 100 percent, but one thing people don’t realize is why would I go and start a camp once again, injured, if I am the champion?

“Taking risks is one thing. I have been taking risks a lot, but why would I risk? I’m the champion now, and I can fight when I’m ready. I think Izzy misjudges himself as still being a champion, and he’s not. You will fight when you get the opportunity. You don’t dictate when I fight.”

Du Plessis suggests they fight in Africa instead, something Adesanya said before that he was open to.

“The fight’s going to happen,” Du Plessis said. “He’s been a big mouth about coming to South Africa and dragging carcasses. I mean, that’s what he said. So, be a man of your word. Step up, do it. Let’s make UFC Africa, let’s make that happen. Obviously, that is what I would love in an ideal situation. Fighting Israel Adesanya on African and South African soil.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.

Brendan Allen unimpressed by Dricus Du Plessis’ ‘lucky’ UFC title run

The way Brendan Allen sees it, Dricus Du Plessis is the UFC middleweight champion basically because of luck.

[autotag]Brendan Allen[/autotag] is not too impressed with the body of work from UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag].

Despite currently holding gold at 185 pounds, being undefeated in the octagon and finishing several known names, Allen doesn’t see Du Plessis as the rightful champ of the division. Allen believes Du Plessis has hit a run of good luck all the way to the belt, and although the results might not paint the picture, he said that one can see it in Du Plessis’ actual performances.

“Did Whittaker look like the normal Whittaker in that fight? I mean, he was getting beat in that first minute-and-a-half of that fight,” Allen told MMA Junkie Radio when talking about Du Plessis resume. “Whittaker didn’t look as bouncy as he normally does. He didn’t look as quick as he normally does. He looked flatfooted and stiff. It is a win. You’re definitely right that that’s a great name to have on your resume. You can’t take the win away; he got that one for sure. But up until that point, we can definitely, easily, 1,000 percent fact say that he had the easy road, and he was losing every single one of those fights until he came back and got the finish.

“Some of those were lucky. Marcus Perez, (Du Plessis) was losing that fight, and (Perez) was beating him so easily that he threw a spinning back elbow at the same time that (Dricus) was throwing a body shot and hit him in the chin. I don’t think it gets any more lucky than that.”

Allen returns to the cage April 6 in the main event of a UFC Fight Night scheduled to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. He takes on longtime contender Marvin Vettori in a key middleweight matchup. He believes that if he beats Vettori, the UFC should give him a title shot or, at the very least, a No. 1 contender fight.

The bout with Vettori is the third main event booking Allen gets in the UFC. He’s now feeling very comfortable preparing for 25 minutes and doesn’t see it as a future challenge if he got a shot a Du Plessis.

“I always train to go and go and go,” Allen said. “I don’t know any way but to train 100 percent. That’s why it’s nice for me to take a couple of months off in between camps, just because when I do train, I don’t know any other way than to push myself. I’ve done five rounds before, a different stage, but still preparing for five rounds. So it’s nothing new. Things just change in preparation from three to five. You can be a little more lazy on three, where you can’t with five. You add some different running routines in there, you add a couple more rounds, but overall the push for me, it’s still the same.”

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Robert Whittaker: I’d beat new UFC champ Dricus Du Plessis 9 times out of 10

Robert Whittaker is confident he beats Dricus Du Plessis if they fight again.

[autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] is confident he will beat [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] if they fight again.

Former champion Whittaker (24-7 MMA, 15-5 UFC) was upset by Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) this past July at UFC 290 when he was stopped by second-round TKO. Du Plessis then went beat Sean Strickland to claim the middleweight title in January at UFC 297.

As Whittaker prepares for his upcoming fight vs. Paulo Costa (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in the UFC 298 co-main event Feb. 17, “The Reaper” hopes to eventually work his way back to a rematch with Du Plessis.

“Dricus is a hungry guy, man,” Whittaker said during the UFC 298 pre-fight press conference in Sydney (h/t MacLife). “You saw in his last fight, and I think I underestimated that hunger. I still believe I beat him nine times out of 10.

“I still believe I’m a better fighter than he is, that I have a better skill set than he does. But mate: big strong guy that’s hungry and willing to leave it all there? You need to match that. I feel like I didn’t do that in that last fight.”

If Whittaker is afforded the opportunity to rematch Du Plessis, he thinks it’s more of a mental adjustment that he has to make.

“He’s definitely on a list that I want to run it back with,” Whittaker said. “I just didn’t turn up last time. Like I said, nine times out of 10 I beat him, and I think next time we cross paths, it’s going to be one of those nine times.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.

Brandon Moreno recalls chaos being in middle of infamous Sean Strickland-Dricus Du Plessis cageside brawl

The infamous cageside brawl between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 296? Brandon Moreno knew it was coming.

The infamous cageside brawl between [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] and [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag]? [autotag]Brandon Moreno[/autotag] knew it was coming.

Ahead of their scheduled title fight at UFC 297, Strickland and Du Plessis spent UFC 296 fight week in December promoting their matchup, which included an ugly back-and-forth during a press conference that featured the headliners of the year’s first three pay-per-views. Strickland was triggered at the press conference when Du Plessis brought up his abusive upbringing, and the feeling carried over to UFC 296 at T-Mobile Arena.

For some reason, Du Plessis was assigned to sit just two rows directly behind Strickland. After the UFC 296 broadcast filmed both men, all hell broke loose when Strickland jumped over a row of seats and attacked Du Plessis.

Moreno and his family were seated in the row between Strickland and Du Plessis, and the former UFC flyweight champion recalled his experience in an interview with MMA Junkie Radio.

“I remember watching Strickland and DDP behind me, and then I turned my face to talk to my wife,” Moreno said. “I was ready to tell her, ‘Hey, let’s move a little bit, because something’s gonna happen right now.’ But in that moment I said ‘something’s gonna happen,’ Strickland jumped and everything started to be a mess. Everything was fine, but then a bodyguard pushed me to the ground. It’s fine. I just wanted to protect my wife.”

The way things were going leading up to that moment, Moreno wasn’t at all surprised by what transpired.

“I think it was very clear (a fight would break out),” Moreno said. “Dana White said the same: Who put DDP behind Strickland? It’s insane. You could see it in his eyes like, ‘Man, something’s gonna happen.'”

He was right.

Du Plessis went on to defeat Strickland and claim the middleweight title by split decision in the UFC 297 main event last month. Before they stepped foot in the cage, the two men seemed to have buried the hatchet on their feud.

Moreno returns to action Feb. 24 at UFC Fight Night in Mexico City, where he’ll headline the event in a rematch with Brandon Royval.

MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month for January: DWCS rematch thrills at UFC 297 in Toronto

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from January 2024.

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from January 2024: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month award for January.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.

* * * *

Nominees

Dricus Du Plessis: Sean Strickland’s been walking back an admission that he lost at UFC 297

According to Dricus Du Plessis, Sean Strickland thought he lost their fight at UFC 297.

According to [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag], [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] thought he lost their fight in its immediate aftermath at UFC 297.

Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) dethroned Strickland (28-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC) to become middleweight champion in a tightly contested main event in Toronto earlier this month.

Days after their fight, Strickland said he thought he won, but Du Plessis revealed that that’s not what Strickland told him before the judges rendered their scorecards.

“This is the first time publicly I’ll say this: He came to me in the cage directly before they announced me as the new champion. I went to him and I shook his hand and I said, ‘You’re a warrior. Well done – (that) was a great fight.’ And he said, ‘No, you definitely beat me,'” Du Plessis told SuperSport.

“He said to me, ‘You deserve it. You won that fight. You beat me.’ And I said, ‘I also think so. I have to agree with you on that.’ After I won the fight, you could see in his face – he knew. When the ref held our hands, he knew he wasn’t winning that fight.”

Strickland pointed to an alleged head butt by Du Plessis that he claimed impaired his vision and contributed to the outcome of the fight. Du Plessis denied the clash of heads.

“Of course, he talks about the head butt – which is not true,” Du Plessis said. “I remember the exact punch according with when his eyes started bleeding. Then afterwards when we went in the doctor’s rooms, he came to me and he said, ‘You’re a warrior. I wouldn’t have wanted to lose to anybody else because you deserve this.’

“But then he goes on Twitter and he says, ‘You will never be a champion’ or something along those lines. Just the way he said it … to ask for a rematch is one thing in a way you want to. But I have to say I have nothing against the guy. What I’ve experienced is not really I think he’s an emotional guy. let’s be honest. But I don’t think he’s a bad dude.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.

Dricus Du Plessis open to UFC 300 if healthy but thinks Israel Adesanya is ‘perfect fight’ for UFC Africa

UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis really wants the Israel Adesanya fight to happen in Africa.

UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] thinks the [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] fight has to happen in Africa.

After claiming the middleweight title with a split decision win over Sean Strickland this past Saturday at UFC 297, Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) reignited his feud with Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) by calling him out.

UFC 300 would be a marquee event for their grudge match, but Du Plessis isn’t sure if he could turn around for the April 13 card in time.

“Nothing is certain yet, but that is what we want to do,” Du Plessis told eNCA and other reporters during a press conference upon his return home. “UFC 300 is a big possibility if my body allows it. I took some punishment obviously with some small injuries.

“I’m not 100 percent sure what the gravity of those injuries are. I’m going to the doctor after this and making sure concussion tests are done, making sure we do the scans, making sure that there’s nothing serious injured. Then UFC 300 is a big, big possibility.”

Du Plessis was expected to face Adesanya when “The Last Stylebender” was still middleweight champ, which led to their heated face off at UFC 290. However, the fight never materialized after Strickland stepped up to face Adesanya instead and upset him at UFC 293.

Considering their African roots, Du Plessis would love to settle the score with Adesanya at home.

“I have to be honest with you,” Du Plessis said. “If UFC Africa is going to happen, you’re going to look very far beyond to find a more perfect fight than me vs. Israel Adesanya and that’s a fight I want right here on home soil where he said he wants to make it happen.”

 

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.

Video: Incredible scenes show UFC champ Dricus Du Plessis receive hero’s welcome in South Africa

Newly crowned UFC champ Dricus Du Plessis has put South African MMA on the map in a major way, and the fans there love it.

[autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] has put South African MMA on the map in a major way.

Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) outlasted Sean Strickland in this past Saturday’s UFC 297 headliner to claim the middleweight title. The former two-division EFC champion became South Africa’s first UFC champion and only the fourth African champ in company history.

Check out the reception Du Plessis received when he landed at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park as a massive amount of fans gathered to cheer him on and chant his name (via eNCA).

And here’s an incredible point-of-view angle of fans greeting Du Plessis:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2g3mP0oTJW/

After beating Strickland, Du Plessis turned his attention to former champion Israel Adesanya, whom he was previously on a collision course with.

“There was another guy who tried to take my shine,” Du Plessis said in his post-fight interview in the octagon. “He lost his shine. Now, I have your shine. You didn’t get into the cage tonight, but Israel Adesanya, get your ass back in the UFC so we can settle the score.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.