The American Psycho versus South Africa’s Best: UFC 297 Strickland vs Du Plessis Preview

On January 20th, mixed martial arts fans will watch a fireworks display occur in the main event of UFC 297, a middleweight championship fight between the reigning champ Sean Strickland and challenger Dricus Du Plessis. Both men represent the peak of the middleweight division.

Strickland’s upset victory over Israel Adesanya, despite arguably not earning a shot at the title, is a Rocky-like tale of superhuman willpower and determination overcoming all the odds to earn himself the title. But Strickland immediately elected to test his mettle against the #2 ranked contender, the South African Dricus Du Plessis. This fight will be a crossroads match for the two fighters. Should either win, they will likely unleash a reign of terror across the middleweight division, but should they lose, they face a massive reset in their career.

***Warning: this article contains references to childhood abuse and explicit material. 

The Beginnings of Sean Strickland

Sean Strickland comes from a troubled background, with an alcoholic father and racist grandfather who traumatized him as a child with both domestic abuse and bigoted teachings towards other ethnic groups. Strickland possibly has undiagnosed sociopathy, from his abysmal authority figures in his childhood as well as the constant beatings he endured as a child.

“Honestly, in the ring the more I hurt my opponent the more happy I get… sometimes there are urges in me to hurt people, like homicidal urges.” – Sean Strickland

Strickland found MMA at the age of 15 and used it to channel his rage, as well as allow himself to change from a bitter and hostile racist teenager to a focused young man, only allowing his fury and lack of empathy to be shown in the ring. After years of fighting, Strickland has earned a reputation for being brutally honest and aggressive in how he responds to others, earning the title of “American Psycho” by fight fans and sports journalists.

Strickland at first competed in the welterweight division of UFC, which ranges from 155 lbs to 170. He had a 7-3 record, but after a motorcycle accident took a few years off and reentered in 2020 as a middleweight, weighing in at around 185 pounds. He found his way into the rankings as a #5 contender, before two dramatic defeats put him back at the bottom rung of the ranked lists. Strickland was nevertheless chosen as Israel Adesanya’s, the then reigning UFC Middleweight Champion, next title defense.

Adesanya is considered one of the best middleweight champions to date, with a versatile kickboxing style that favors agility, speed, and reflexes to combine striking and kicking to overwhelm his opponents. Strickland’s more conventional style, with his supposedly weak chin and underwhelming power, was too crude for him to overcome Adesanya, or so his detractors thought.

Strickland Upsets Adesanya at UFC 293

But Sean overwhelmed Adesanya in their title fight on the 10th of December in 2023. Adesanya, despite being the 7 to 1 favorite, was unable to crack through Strickland’s excellent defense, which has the latter stand upright with a “Philly shell” defense, utilized by more defensive boxers. Strickland walked through Adesanya to win a unanimous decision victory after five rounds of fighting. The final moments of the fight saw the triumphant Strickland hound after Adesanya, screaming at him to “stand and fight!”

The Rising Star: Dricus Du Plessis

While Strickland was fighting his internal demons and preparing for a title shot, a hulking South African by the name of Dricus Du Plessis was rising in the ranks. Du Plessis is a natural middleweight with a muscular physique and possesses a record of 22-2.

Du Plessis is renowned for his aggressive fighting style, swarming his opponents with relentless punches and kicks, then grappling them onto the floor to put them on their backs. This is either followed by an attempt to submit (where a fighter will attempt to place their opponent in such a painful position, such as a chokehold, that the opponent will tap out and lose the fight) or “ground and pound” where Du Plessis will use his height advantage to strike his vulnerable opponent at will.

Du Plessis obliterated former middleweight champion and top contender Robert Whittaker on July 8, 2023, earning himself the #2 middleweight ranking in the world, and was slated for a title fight against then-champion Adesanya. But an injury sustained in the Whittaker fight meant that Du Plessis voluntarily gave up on his title shot with the hopes of earning another chance. Strickland, then ranked #7, was given the opportunity instead. Du Plessis hopes to cash in on his first chance to get middleweight gold and beat the man who was ready for the championship at the right place and the right time.

Verbal Sparring and the Leadup to the Fight

Both Dricus and Strickland attended their pre-fight press conference, where the UFC will allow both fighters to take in questions from reporters, discuss their feelings about the fight, and trash-talk opponents. Strickland is notorious for his trash talk, slandering Adesanya over allegations of discarding his New Zealand heritage to get promotional deals with Chinese corporations, dry humping knocked out UFC opponents, abusing his dog, and bragging about his anime and pornography addictions.

Strickland, as champ, answered the first question about his thoughts on Dricus and he was initially charitable, calling Dricus “a stand up guy, a bad mother[$$$$], his fight against Whittaker was legendary,” but finally mentioning the following:

“I will still walk through [Dricus] like I walked through Israel.”

Dricus responded that Strickland’s win over Adesanya doesn’t come close to his win over Whittaker, as the latter was “knocked out cold,” but Strickland “couldn’t even knock out Izzy, you didn’t walk through him!”.

Strickland also attacked Dricus’ claim of a leg injury that prevented the latter from fighting Adesanya for the belt, calling him a “coward when I answered the call.” Dricus finished the conference by telling Sean “you think your dad beat the $$$$ out of you? Your dad doesn’t have anything on me, every childhood memory you have is going to come back when I’m there with you.” Strickland began to stumble over his words in response, but eventually yelled at Du Plessis, saying:

“I will take your soul do you understand me? You’re laughing right now but keep laughing coward.”

Strickland later got into a fight with Du Plessis while they both were spectating another MMA fight, in which Strickland privately confided that he “almost bit that guy’s [Du Plessis] ear right off,” before being separated by security.

The Matchup at UFC 297

Strickland’s tenure of power as Middleweight Champion faces its first challenge in the form of the very game Du Plessis. Strickland’s feats against Adesanya are impressive, but Du Plessis knocked out Whittaker within two rounds which has led to an overall viewer consensus that the upcoming fight will be a fireworks display. Sean Strickland had this to say:

“It’s going to be a war.”

Strength

Dricus Du Plessis is freakishly large for a middleweight, with podcast Joe Rogan confiding “he’s the biggest man weighing 185 pounds you’ll ever see.” Dricus’ performance against Robert Whittaker displayed his ability to manhandle opponents with both handwork and takedowns precipitated by leg swipes.

Strickland is strong, but his strength comes from technique. He has been able to pry away the grips of Abusupiyan Magomedov easily alongside Israel Adesanya, but we haven’t seen Sean engage in a full-on wrestling match with an opponent because that’s simply not his style.

Strength goes to Dricus.

Power

Power is different from strength because it is not about how much you can push or pull but rather about how much force is behind punches. A relatively weak person can still deliver quite powerful blows, and vice versa.

Strickland has admitted several times that he lacks true power in his hands, and has a low KO rate of around 26% in the middleweight division. Although he rocked Adesanya, Dricus was right in saying that “it wasn’t a knockout… [Strickland] had to get the decision.” Sean’s power is in volume, not in the quality of punching.

Dricus by contrast has a reputation for knockouts and fast finishes. Out of his 20 victories, all but one have been finished within the distance. He has knocked out 9 of his opponents with punches or kicks.

Power goes to Dricus.

Experience

Strickland’s technique is born out of nearly 10 years in the octagon, whether in or out of the UFC. He has fought a wide variety of fighters, including kickboxers like Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya, strikers such as Kamaru Usman and Jack Hermansson, and Brazilian Jiu Jistu specialists like Brendan Allen.

Yes, Dricus has likely fought the better opponents in his march to the title, but Strickland has fought longer and had consistently better training camps (more on that later). Strickland consistently fights dozens of fighters in sparring sessions in preparation for his upcoming fights, including those who have faced his former opponents such as Du Plessis.

Experience matters because Strickland’s understanding of how to adapt to any situation in the Octagon will be informed by his previous bouts and his previous opponents. And it will certainly play into our next standard.

Stamina

Du Plessis has a troubled relationship with his stamina, born out of nose blockage issues that were only resolved with surgery in the spring of 2023. Dricus had an odd tendency to “gas out” so to say during fights, with only his power, raw strength, and initial onslaught carrying him to victory. With his new nose, Dricus now may be able to condition himself for longer bouts (which will be necessary given the five-round limit of title fights compared to the normal three rounds).

But during the Whittaker fight, Dricus was breathing heavily through the mouth by the second round. While this is fair given the high intensity of that fight, I saw a much slower Dricus coming into the second round, even if he did end up finishing Whittaker. Dricus’ past shows us examples of him getting slower and slower the later the rounds go on, so much so that he becomes more vulnerable to heavier shots from opponents that may not put him to sleep, but certainly deal damage.

Compare this to Strickland, who reportedly spars with fresh sparring partners every new round to press the tired fighter with more fresh opponents who force him beyond his comfort zone. He has boxed full 15 rounds (in boxing each round is three minutes, compared to UFC rounds which are five minutes) sparring sessions, and in his Adesanya, Imamov, Cannonnier, and Hermansson fights all show a man who has truly superb cardio.

Joe Rogan, who is practicing Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwondo, comments that Strickland “spars like that so often that he’s composed. He doesn’t get tired in the fifth round, I was watching his stomach in between rounds [while fighting Adesanya].. flat, just standing there drinking water, flat, like 50-60 beats a minute. I’m like, this is crazy, this guy’s calm and relaxed in the fifth round of his first world title fight against one of the greatest of all time.”

Wrestling/Grappling

Grappling is interesting here because I would say that while Dricus has made quite a name off of his grappling (with nearly 10 submissions on his opponents), Strickland’s grappling technique is an underrated element of his dynamic as a fighter. Strickland is widely seen as having excellent takedown defense, and his hand grappling allows him to avoid strikes with the hands or legs, chokes, or arm bars.

Strickland’s subtle maneuvering in the clinches will give him an edge, especially when Dricus will heavily rely on his strong takedown rate to force Sean to the ground. Here is an excellent video that explains Sean’s various techniques given during his wrestling and ground game. Even though Strickland prefers to fight on his feet, his defensive grappling is very admirable.

Dricus utilizes an aggressive takedown style, going both with double and single-legged takedowns, with a habit of attempting to go for the finish whether through arm bars, guillotines, or rear-naked chokes. But much of these attempts will be nullified by Strickland’s defensive grappling. It should be noted that when Strickland fought Usman, an accomplished welterweight wrestler, Strickland nullified much of the worst damage Usman could do.

Grappling and Wrestling is even.

Defense

Strickland’s defense is noteworthy as he has the highest deflection of shots out of anyone in the UFC middleweight division, essentially meaning he gets hit the least with his shots. This is because Strickland employs the Philly shell defense, with his left hand horizontal to his body, and his right hand straight up. The Philly shell allows its users to use their left shoulder to “roll” with the punches, while Strickland can strike out with his right hand.

Strickland employs the Philly shell offensively, pushing forward, blocking any shots with his left shoulder whilst firing back with his right hand. Du Plessis, by contrast, employs a conventional boxing stance combined with his kicking to exert heavy pressure on his opponents, but he still gets tagged repeatedly by opponents. It is only due to Du Plessis’ strong chin that he has not been knocked out earlier in fights.

Defense goes to Strickland.

Ring IQ

Strickland and Du Plessis both have similar strategies, of approaching their opponent and attempting to force them back through sheer force. Ring IQ is the practice of adjusting one’s strategy based on the evolution of a fight and exploiting opportunities for victory quickly.

Both fighters have displayed that with their respective fights with solid implementation of their strategies. Strickland consistently employs pressure, embodying with heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey calls “aggressive defense.” And Du Plessis’ use of his orthodox and southpaw stances will allow him to place himself in closer ranges of Strickland for takedowns or punches, while also being able to confuse the American.

But Strickland’s ability to manage the range with his opponent and set up well-timed combinations, alongside his calm attitude on the mat that allows him to get his way out of harrowing grappling scenarios is commendable.

IQ slightly goes to Strickland.

Intangibles

Intangibles are what I will call the “unseen factors,” the coaching, motivation, and drive of each fighter.

Strickland comes from an abusive household that put in him a fire to fight not only as way to expel his hateful anger on his opponents but also to learn to defend himself from any abusive figures for the rest of his life. Dricus’ comments making fun of his traumatic childhood ignited a flame in Sean to push him further in trying to dominate in his first title defense.

Dricus has had a hunger for the title for years, but it simply does not match what Strickland has. He has lived a comfortable life, and although he desperately wants the title for his nation’s pride, he can’t hold a candle to Strickland’s furor. Strickland said the following in an interview:

“I remember when I was a kid I would cry under my bed after my dad would hit me and then start to hit my mom, and I thought that fighting was my way to avoid that pain. Every time I’m in the ring, every time I’m in a fight, every time I get hurt, I wanna go back to that kid and tell him everything is going to be alright, and that I’m going to hit back.”

Dricus will win the first two rounds, likely with several takedowns but by the third Strickland will reassume control, and methodically wear down Du Plessis. By the fourth and fifth rounds, we will see a much more tired Du Plessis who will eventually be easy pickings for Strickland. In the opinion of this reporter, Strickland wins via TKO Round Five.