Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has taken his title loss to Dricus du Plessis in stride, attributing his bloody state during the fight to a head butt, but remaining positive and thankful for the support he received.
Sean Strickland’s taking his recent championship loss pretty chill. He’s not letting it get to him.
He lost his UFC middleweight title to Dricus du Plessis. It all went down at the UFC 297 main event in Toronto. Du Plessis snagged a split decision win after a nail-biting five-round fight.
Strickland was in a bit of a state during the fight. He was a bloody mess, to be honest. He blamed it on a headbutt. He shared his thoughts about it on social media.
Here’s what he tweeted: “Well, f***, haha… man, that headbutt made it tough to see. But I thought we nailed it. Blood and all! On to the next one. Thanks to everyone who had my back!”
After the fight, Strickland and du Plessis were all class. They had nothing but respect and kind words for each other in their post-fight interviews.
This was Strickland’s first loss since December 2022. It ended a four-fight winning streak that included a shock win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293. He became the world champ then but lost the belt in his first defense. Du Plessis won with 48-47 scores from two of the judges.
At the post-fight press conference, du Plessis was asked about the alleged headbutt. He said he didn’t know anything about it.
“No, I can’t say that I did,” Du Plessis said. “This is news to me. I didn’t feel a headbutt during the fight. I can’t remember any headbutt.”