Sean Strickland addresses Dricus du Plessis' praise of Robert Whittaker after UFC 305: "You ain't ducking me"
Sean Strickland seemed to take umbrage with his former opponent Dricus du Plessis touting another previous adversary as someone who deserves the next shot at 'DDP's' belt more than him.
Du Plessis was on the heels of submitting two-time middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 and addressed several inquiries from the media in the post-fight press conference. Many think it comes down to Strickland and Robert Whittaker as to who is the next contender at 185 pounds and the reigning champ seems to think the latter deserves it more.
Du Plessis stated that Strickland's only saving grace was that he went the distance with him before but that Whittaker had defeated Paulo Costa more impressively than how Strickland did. 'DDP' did address though that the Strickland sequel was what everyone wanted to see and that includes UFC figurehead Dana White who indicated Strickland would be next in line for the belt pre-event.
The former UFC middleweight champion posted on his Instagram account @stricklandmma, stating:
"You ain't ducking me no matter how much [you] try in interviews! Dana said I'm next in line ...We're bringing that belt back [to] America."
Check out Strickland's response to Dricus du Plessis' recent comments below:
Sean Strickland, Robert Whittaker, and how their fights with Dricus du Plessis played out
Sean Strickland and Robert Whittaker are top-of-the-heap guys in the division with this pair of former champions each having fought the current middleweight kingpin.
Dricus du Plessis fought Robert Whittaker and this contest was what vaulted him into contention for the middleweight strap in the first place. These two clashed at UFC 290 with du Plessis stopping Whittaker with strikes in the second stanza of their matchup.
Dricus du Plessis would then go on to fight the then-middleweight champion of the promotion Sean Strickland in the first quarter of this year. 'DDP' clashed with Strickland at UFC 297 in Toronto, Ontario with the two combatants going the distance in Canada after a competitive contest.
A call of 'and new' would ring out as the dust settled with du Plessis claiming the belt but the fight was close enough that many presumed a rematch would happen between these two again someday. Whittaker has a fight lined up with Khamzat Chimaev in the co-main event of UFC 308 in October while Strickland is coming off of the aforementioned Costa win at UFC 302 in June.