"I’m going to take a f****** chunk out of him" - Sean Strickland admits to biting Dricus Du Plessis during rage-driven brawl at UFC 296
UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland clashed octagon-side with No.2-ranked contender Dricus Du Plessis during UFC 296 last month
Strickland and Du Plessis carried forward with their beef from the preceding press conference, and the latter's comments about child abuse felt too personal to 'Tarzan', causing him to lash out.
On a recent podcast with comedian Theo Von, Strickland expressed his stance on certain topics that should not be made light of:
"There’s some things that are off limits. You don’t really talk about a man’s wife, you don’t talk about a man’s kids, and you don’t about a kid being abused. These things are all off limits. Once he crossed that... I tried to f****** ignore it. Whenever Dricus goes on there and he jokes about that s**t, dude, you have no idea. I’ll f*****g kill you... When you’re a kid and you’re made to be a victim your whole life, as an adult, you’re like never again."
Sean Strickland also detailed brawling with Du Plessis and was glad that the cameras did not catch him biting the South African. He mentioned having to control himself:
"I’m so happy they didn’t get it from a right angle, I bit him. I s*** you not. Whenever he went into me, I remember at that moment... I started thinking how can hurt this man? I’m going to take a f****** chunk out of him. I’m going to bite his f****** ear off. I remember telling myself at that moment, ‘Sean, you can’t do that, that’s something you can’t walk away from.’ If you do that, then I’m going to jail." [h/t MMA Fighting]
Check out Sean Strickland's comments below:
Eric Nicksick discusses how Sean Strickland used Dricus Du Plessis' comments to motivate himself
Sean Strickland's coach Eric Nicksick also recently reacted to the incident at UFC 296.
Speaking to MMA Junkie, Nicksick explained that Strickland's tendency to trash talk has also placed him in a position to receive such comments. He mentioned how Dricus Du Plessis' comments triggered 'Tarzan' but also served as motivation in the days that followed.
He said:
"There's to sides to that coin. You know, Sean has no problem saying what he says about everybody else. So people are probably gonna poke and say things about him as well. I think it's a tough road to tow. You can't get too emotional about those situations. They are just words. But at the end of the day I did feel like he was triggered and there was a few days where it kind of motivated him."
Check his comments out below (11:55):