Last Saturday at UFC 310, the promotion controversially announced the UFC 312 main event between Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland.
Following Dricus Du Plessis' successful title defense against Israel Adesanya last August at UFC 305, UFC CEO Dana White stated that Sean Strickland would likely be the next to fight for the title, despite having just one win since losing to 'Stillknocks'.
The plans were then temporarily put on hold when they announced that Khamzat Chimaev would face Robert Whittaker in the UFC 308 co-main event. After 'Borz' decimated Whittaker in the first round, Du Plessis called for a fight against him.
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Dricus Du Plessis reveals the conversations that led to a Sean Strickland rematch
Du Plessis and Chimaev then started going back and forth with each other on social media, increasing excitement among fans that we could actually get that fight.
The UFC then seemingly returned to their original plan when they announced that Du Plessis will headline UFC 312 in a rematch against Strickland on February 9 in Sydney.
However, the South African champion has revealed he was always interested in the Strickland rematch until Chimaev shocked the world with his performance at UFC 308.
“I think most people wanted to see that Khamzat fight, including myself,” Du Plessis began to explain in an interview with Main Event TV.
“I was 100% excited the entire time about the rematch in Strickland. Everyone now says they wanted the Khamzat fight, but the same fans were the ones calling for the Strickland rematch until Khamzat got the nod against Rob.
“I really felt like the Strickland rematch was warranted, let's do it, and after that Khamzat fight, that was the fight I wanted and I think 90% of the fans wanted that. The UFC promised Strickland the fight and this time they kept their promise,” he said.
Despite this, the champion stated that the Chimaev fight was 'on the table' and has revealed the talks that led to a return to Strickland.
“(A fight against Khamzat) was definitely on the table, but you know, we talked about it. It wasn't on my side or his side where the fight didn't happen, it was, I think there were some issues with the UFC and Khamzat, I'm not sure, and timing, I think timing played a big role, but there were conversations.”
Chimaev recently revealed that he will be attending UFC 312 in Sydney as he already has contractual obligations to meet and greet fans, and he will participate in gym seminars.
Dricus Du Plessis claims 'boring' Strickland has no problem with crowd 'booing his fighting style'
Despite their first fight being extremely close, the MMA world let Du Plessis win the fight, which Strickland has continually questioned, claiming he was “robbed.”
Ahead of their rematch, the South African has claimed that the 'boring' Strickland hasn't changed and his fight against Paulo Costa at UFC 302 showed that.
“Nothing has changed, he looked boring like any other fight, he walked forward stinging and wheezing, it wasn't an exciting fight.
“It wasn't a bad performance, it was the most normal performance he's ever had. I remember there was a phase during our fight where I was walking forward but he kept moving away and I thought to myself, 'I'll just stand here, maybe he'll get the confidence to walk forward and we can knock him out '. .
“He has no problem with the crowd shouting his fighting style, unfortunately I don't have that in me,” said Du Plessis.
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