Strickland ‘A Million Times Better’ Than Du Plessis

Technically, Sean Strickland is “a million times better” than Dricus Du Plessis.

But “Stillknocks” has such an awkward style that he will make the UFC 297 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, which takes place on Sat., Jan. 20, 2024 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a (expletive) war.

“I think Dricus is like so awkward he’s good,” Strickland said on YouTube (transcribed by Drake Riggs). “Where it’s like, you know, I’m a million times better than him, I spar guys he’s fought, I know who he is. But he’s so awkward he’s good. It’s gonna be a f***ing war. He’ll be a tougher fight than Chimaev. Chimaev, he doesn’t f***ing deserve it. We all know that. The only reason why Chimaev gets that shot is because he sells a lot of tickets. That’s it.”

Du Plessis, currently ranked No. 2 at 185 pounds, beat out middleweight phenom Khamzat Chimaev to secure the next crack at the division crown, even though UFC CEO Dana White made championship promises ahead of Chimaev’s victory over Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 last month in Abu Dhabi.

“At the end of the day, man, I’m happy with Dricus,” Strickland continued. “It’s gonna be a hell of a fight, and I’m just happy the UFC is doing the right thing. He’s next in line, he f***ing deserves it. They’ve been doing a lot of f***ery lately with rankings and bulls***. Just f***ing wrong, man. We need to go back to a professional sport where rankings matter because as of now, rankings mean f***-all s***.”

Chimaev is currently rehabbing a hand injury and is expected to return at some point in early-to-mid 2024. No word yet on whether or not the promotion will try to rebook him against former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa, who is looking to bounce back from a few injuries of his own.