South Africa's Dricus du Plessis punches Sean Strickland of the United States in the face during their middleweight title fight at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia.
Image: Saeed Khan / AFP
South Africa's UFC Middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis put a marker down by calling out Light Heavyweight king Alex Pereira after successfully defending his title against the United States' Sean Strickland at UFC 312 on Sunday morning.
After beating the former champion via a convincing unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 49-46) under the bright lights of the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, Du Plessis thanked Strickland for the fight, crediting the man for his durability and fight IQ before taking aiming Strickland's cornerman, Pereira.
"To knock Sean Strickland is next to impossible. I would have loved another round, but that is not the game. I said I wanted either a submission, knockout, or an absolute domination of a five-rounder. I gave it my all. I am sorry I could not get him out of here. Sean is an absolute animal, and he is deserving of all the hype. Thank you for showing me love, Sydney," said Du Plessis inside the Octagon.
"Since I quoted Achilles before the fight, here's another Achilles quote, seeing that a certain man is standing across the Octagon," said Du Plessis, referring to Pereira.
"Is there no one else? Is there no one else?" shouted Du Plessis, looking into the eyes of the man known as 'Poatan'.
In the build-up to the fight, Du Plessis referenced the Greek Mythological figure Achilles in response to Strickland, who begged the champion to keep the fight standing and trade fists.
Du Plessis responded: "There are no pacts between lions and men".
Former Middleweight champion Perreira has been eyeing Du Plessis since the latter's win over former UFC Middleweight champion and the great Israel Adesanya (Nigeria) last year.
Pereira offered to move down to 185 pounds again, but Du Plessis offered to come up to 205 pounds instead, with an eye on a second belt.
Time will tell how this plays out, considering that Du Plessis' coach, Morne Visser, confirmed that he wants Khamzat Chimaev at International Fight Week later this year.
After dethroning Strickland at UFC 297 with a controversial split decision win in Canada last year, Du Plessis cemented his status as the king with a convincing win this time.
As they say in the classics, styles make fights, and this was the case today as both men played a high-level chess match inside the hallowed Octagon.
Strickland stuck to his strengths, staying behind his trademark Philly-Shell boxing and strong jab as he tried to push forward and out-strike the South African, who now lies third (9) behind Israel Adesanya (12) and Anderson Silva (16) for the most middleweight wins in the most popular MMA promotion.
Strickland delivered beautiful jabs and crosses, but true to form, it was Du Plessis who proved to be the ultimate mixed martial artist.
Du Plessis showcased his awkward style, superior cardio, and granite jaw as he kept pushing forward, looking for ways to break the guard of his American opponent.
It was clear that the South Africans aimed to break down Strickland with effective body kicks, spinning back fists, overhand rights, and high kicks.
His volume and pace finally paid off in the fourth round when he landed a vicious right, breaking Strickland's nose in the process and leading to a stream of blood flowing from the contender's face.
Du Plessis failed to capitalise and deliver a stoppage, but his dominance throughout the fight up to that point had the bout in the bag as he continued to add on the pressure and land point-worthy strikes.
"The game plan was to stay calm. My coach said to me: 'Dricus, we know you can knock someone out, we know you have that dog, try and stay calm'.
"It was hard to stay calm, though, after seeing him grab at his nose in the fourth round. It's like having someone rocked. I got a bit overexcited. I am probably going to get tased in training for that," said Du Plessis with a chuckle, referring to his coach's unorthodox training and discipline techniques.
"This was a big proving point for me. I don't want to make a habit of these decision wins, but against a competitor like Sean, it means the absolute world, South Africa, back home, thank you for the incredible support. To everybody here in Australia, thank you so much," added Du Plessis.
@juliankiewietz
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