Chael Sonnen shares honest opinion on Sean Strickland losing to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297, previews UFC 312 rematch: "That's not what I saw"
Chael Sonnen has stated that he doesn't agree with Sean Strickland's assessment that he won his first encounter against Dricus du Plessis. In addition, Sonnen gave his take on their rematch at UFC 312 next year.
For context, du Plessis captured the UFC middleweight belt earlier this year at UFC 297 in an entertaining fight against Strickland that ended controversially. While the South African was declared the winner by a split decision, many, including UFC CEO Dana White, believed that 'Tarzan' deserved to get his hand raised.
Since then, Strickland has consistently campaigned for a rematch, claiming that he won their first fight despite the judges' ruling.
However, Sonnen thinks otherwise. In an episode of the Good Guy / Bad Guy podcast, the UFC Hall of Famer spoke to former two-division champion Daniel Cormier and asserted that Strickland didn't dominate du Plessis and that 'Stillknocks' performed incredibly well.
He said:
''If there has ever been a guy that turns out to be one heck of a lot better than I knew he was, it’s Dricus du Plessis. The other side of that coin, Sean Strickland has talked himself up very much and has a high level of confidence because he believes he beat him the first time. He believes he dominated him. That’s not what I saw...The only reason I’m saying this is I don’t want Sean to necessarily fall for what he’s believing.''
Strickland will get another shot at the middleweight title when he faces du Plessis at UFC 312 on Feb. 9 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. In response to the fight announcement, Sonnen expressed confidence that the 33-year-old will do better in his rematch against du Plessis.
''I do believe Sean is going to fight better trying to re-gain something than to defend something. That’s my own belief, but that’s the fight to make. Winner draws in (Khamzat) Chimaev, I can drink to that.”
Check out Chael Sonnen's comments below (32:13):
Daniel Cormier previews Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland rematch at UFC 312
Following Chael Sonnen's assessment of the Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland title fight at UFC 312, Daniel Cormier gave his take on the highly anticipated matchup in the aforementioned podcast.
Cormier stated that it's going to be a tough challenge for Strickland and praised du Plessis:
''I know that it's a massive challenge because the first fight was so close and it's hard because the way du Plessis fights, hats off to every judge that judges du Plessis' fights because they must be so good at seeing all the little things in between that the general eye will miss...Sean Strickland will make him fight so I think it's going to be fun the co-main event.'' [33:58]