"You definitely beat me" - Dricus du Plessis shares details of post-fight conversation with Sean Strickland inside the octagon at UFC 297
Newly crowned middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis won his title by narrowly edging out Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 297.
The two fighters fought in a very close contest through five rounds and failed to finish each other. On the judges' scorecards, du Plessis gained a split-decision victory, with two judges scoring the fight 48-47 in his favor while one judge scored the fight against him 47-48.
The split decision prompted much debate about which fighter was more deserving of the win. However, in a recent interview, du Plessis stated that Strickland himself admitted to losing the fight.
'Stillknocks' narrated his brief interaction with Strickland in the octagon after their title fight. The South African said:
“He came to me in the cage and this is – I think this is the first in public I’ll say this – 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.’”
Check out the segment below:
Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments below (15:48):
Robert Whittaker picks winner in potential Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya fight
Dricus du Plessis' first title defense could be against the former two-time champion Israel Adesanya. The two were slated to fight at UFC 293 before the South African withdrew, allowing Sean Strickland to step in and upset 'The Last Stylebender'.
Robert Whittaker recently gave his take on the outcome of a potential fight between du Plessis and Adesanya in an interview with Ariel Helwani. He backed 'Stillknocks' to showcase his tenacity and get a result:
“I’m going to say DDP [Dricus du Plessis]. Just because, like Sean with Dricus, the safe bet is Sean, but Dricus showed what he was willing to do and what he was willing to go through. Can he do that again against Izzy? Who knows? But he’s a tough guy. He’s awkward and he’s going to be pushing forward that entire time. It doesn’t matter if he’s getting hit, he showed that tenacity in that fight. So I’ll go DDP.”
Whittaker is no stranger to either middleweight as he has fought Adesanya twice and du Plessis once, and they remain the only two men to get the better of him since 2014.
Check out Robert Whittaker's comments below (15:15):