Sean Strickland often finds himself in wild situations, which hasn’t changed since becoming the UFC middleweight champion. Aside from having more fans and more money, he is largely the same controversial fighter he was during his rise to the top.
While attending the UFC 296 pay-per-view event on December 16, Strickland was involved in an altercation in the crowd. The 185er clashed with Dricus Du Plessis and strikes were thrown on both sides, but the scuffle was premeditated according to a UFC veteran.
During an appearance on the JAXXON Podcast, Gilbert Burns recalled the events that transpired between Strickland and Du Plessis. According to the Brazilian, the middleweight champion warned him something would occur on the night.
“When Sean came, he kind of looked at the guy… Then he talked to me, ‘Oh, you brought your wife and your kids?’ I said yes,” Burns said about the UFC 296 mishap. “He said, ‘Yeah, this freaking guy is right there. I might do something with this guy.'”
“That was before the fight when he walked in. He already had the thing on his head. He already had it. And then he said, ‘But your family is here. If I do something, I will give you the heads up.’… Whenever the thing starts going down, this guy kind of looks at me and said, ‘Now.'”
“Then he asked my son and my wife to move. So I just got in front of them, I said just go in the corner, I got in front of them. And bro, he went out like crazy.”
Related: Colby Covington welcomes “easy fight” against “trainwreck” Sean Strickland
Strickland pre-planning an attack on Du Plessis may not have been the craziest thing to happen during their exchange earlier this month.
According to jiu-jitsu phenom Craig Jones—who sat close to the fight—believes there was an attempt at a Mike Tyson-esque ear bite amid the chaos.
As they’re being separated by security, Sean Strickland allegedly tried to bite the ear of Dricus Du Plessis before Las Vegas police broke up the incident.
Check out Gilbert Burns’ views on the brawl and much more in the video below.
https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/sean-stricklands-attack-on-dricus-du-plessis-was-pre-planned-claims-ufc-veteran
