"Got to take the title from the champ" - Ex-UFC title challenger explains why Sean Strickland could've been declared winner against Dricus du Plessis
Dricus du Plessis emerged as the new 185-pound champion with his tightly contested decision win over Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 297, and a fellow UFC middleweight recently gave his take on the controversial judges' decision.
The challenger came away with a narrow win, but it could have gone either way, according to former title challenger Jared Cannonier. In an interview with InsideFighting, Cannonier mentioned how Strickland could have been succesful in his defense if the judges considered du Plessis' performance not as impressive.
"I think if you are under the consensus of, if you want to win the title you got to take the title from the champ, I can definitely see them giving Sean the decision in that regard. No, I wouldn’t say it was a robbery. I think it was pretty close, it could have gone either way. I understand DDP winning by points, you know what I mean? It was close. We don’t really see that in championship fights. Close fights."
Cannonier continued:
"Usually see people crying that, 'Ohm the champ won cause he was champ.' So it could have gone either way, I’m not going to say it’s a good thing the judges got it right because I semi-share that sentiment if you want to win the title, you have to take it in impressive fashion. And if you want to retain the title, I also feel that you need to be retaining that in impressive fashion as well. Eking out decisions isn’t really a good look for guys of that caliber, who carry the title... Guys in that realm.”
Check out Jared Cannonier's comments in the interview below (6:15):
Dricus du Plessis describes Sean Strickland admitting defeat to him inside the octagon
Sean Strickland's split decision loss to Dricus du Plessis prompted fans to debate the winner of the UFC 297 main event.
'Stillknocks' revealed that the defending champion had admitted to him in the octagon right after their fight that he was beaten fair and square:
“He came to me in the cage directly after the fight, before they announced me as the new champion. And I went to him and I shook his hand and I said. ‘You are a warrior, well done, [it] was a great fight’. And he said, ‘You definitely beat me.’ He said that to me. He said to me, ‘You deserve it, you won that fight. You beat me.’”
However, du Plessis' comments do contradict Sean Strickland's octagon interview wherein he expressed his belief that he won the fight.
Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments below (15:48):