UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland threatened to stab Dricus du Plessis if he continued trash talking about Strickland’s childhood trauma, but du Plessis laughed off the threat and said he is focused on winning their upcoming fight at UFC 297.
Dricus du Plessis? He’s not sweating over a potential stabbing threat before his UFC 297 fight. Not one bit.
Who’s the source of this threat? None other than the reigning UFC middleweight champ, Sean Strickland. Strickland had a clear message for du Plessis: lay off the trash talk about his traumatic childhood. Or else.
And by “or else,” he meant “I will f****** stab you.” Yeah, you read that right.
Du Plessis’ reaction? A smile and a laugh. He’s not losing any sleep over a possible knife attack.
“That’s pretty intense,” du Plessis commented during UFC 297 media day. He also threw a jab at Strickland’s team, suggesting they might need to rein their boy in.
Strickland’s threat wasn’t just about stabbing, though. He’d said he’d kill du Plessis if he crossed the line again. Du Plessis’ response? He’d knock Strickland out before he could even touch him with a knife.
Strickland even claimed he’d forfeit the fight if it meant he could go after du Plessis. Du Plessis admits this had him a bit worried. Not about the stabbing, but about Strickland potentially torpedoing the fight.
“Am I scared that he self-sabotages this fight? Sure,” du Plessis confessed. But right now, his focus is on winning, not on making jokes or getting laughs.
The real battle, as du Plessis sees it, is the one happening on Saturday night. That’s where his mind is at.
After their initial face-off at a press conference, Strickland did attack du Plessis at UFC 296 in Las Vegas. He later sent du Plessis a direct message on Twitter about the incident and their trash talk.
Du Plessis confirmed the social media exchange but had no plans to go public with it. That is, until Strickland started blabbing about it.
“[The message] said something like ‘listen, this is what happened, I’m sorry…'” du Plessis revealed. He was surprised Strickland made the exchange public, as he had no intention of exposing him.
As for the low blows, du Plessis assured Strickland he wouldn’t bring up his childhood trauma again. But he doesn’t really care what Strickland says to him, privately or publicly.
“He said if there’s anything he shouldn’t say, he’ll lay back but if I bring up anything with his childhood again, he said ‘I’ll kill you…'” du Plessis recalled. His response? “Go crazy.”
“There’s nothing he can say that can get under my skin,” du Plessis declared. He’s the mentally strongest fighter in the world, he says. And he won’t say anything about Strickland’s childhood again. That’s a promise.