Dricus du Plessis points out the hypocrisy as he reacts to Sean Strickland's emotional interview with Theo Von
Dricus du Plessis is set to challenge for the middleweight title when he faces Sean Strickland at UFC 297 this weekend. The pair were involved in an altercation in the crowd at UFC 296 after the former made comments about the latter's childhood and upbringing. 'Stillknocks' recently called out 'Tarzan' for being hypocritical in his interview with Theo Von.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, the No.2-ranked middleweight stated:
"Watching grown men cry is not really my genre. I'm glad he got it out. I hope it's the end of it. He had a lot to say about Khalil Rountree crying and he said how weak of a man - beta male - Khalil is for crying. He did the exact same thing, just on a bigger stage. Now, talking about somebody's wife. I'm assuming because he had someone in his life now that became a thing where he didn't care about Ian Garry's wife when he said what he said."
Du Plessis continued:
"It wasn't his place to say anything. That's the one thing in this whole situation where I feel, Sean, whatever he says, it doesn't matter because - he's a funny character, I actually quite enjoy him - the hypocrisy is the one area where people could lose respect for Sean Strickland. He's always unapologetically himself, but as soon as he got his own medicine, as soon as he was on the receiving end for the very first time when I got on that mic, we saw him back pedal and try to play the sympathy card."
Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments on Sean Strickland below:
Du Plessis claimed that Strickland immediately resorted to a victim mentality, which is hypocritical for someone who is constantly dishing out insults. He added that his upcoming opponent does not get to decide what crosses the line due to his history of trash talk.
Sean Strickland claims he will stab Dricus du Plessis if he references his past
Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis are set to clash for the middleweight title at UFC 297 this weekend. 'Tarzan' recently revealed that the bout will not happen if 'Stillknocks' references his past again. Speaking to Chris Curtis on their podcast, The Man Dance, the middleweight champion stated:
"I actually sent him a f**king message and I was like, 'Dude, listen, Dricus, we're going to go try to murder each other, but if you bring that s**t up again, I will f**king stab you. Press conference, weigh in'... That's a line that when crossed, it transcends fighting to like, if I go to Canada and you bring that up, well guess what, I'm going to go to jail, they're going to deport me and we spent eight weeks of training for no f**king reason."
Check out Sean Strickland's comments on stabbing Dricus du Plessis below:
Strickland has previously shared that he was abused by his father during his childhood. While du Plessis previously mentioned this at the UFC 2024 season press conference ahead of UFC 296, it is unclear if he will double down on his remarks ahead of UFC 297.