UFC star Dricus du Plessis says he doesn’t care if fellow fighter Sean Strickland thinks he got too personal and says that his rival isn’t a “moral compass”
To say there’s bad blood between UFC fighters Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland might be a bit of an understatement. The two have not only exchanged some highly personal verbal shots, but they’ve also brawled recently in public. And much of it (fairly) has to do with stinging statements that du Plessis made drawing on Strickland’s troubled past for inspiration.
Dricus Plays Dirty
Dricus du Plessis will challenge Sean Strickland for the middleweight title in the main event of UFC 297 on Saturday night. And they have already given everyone a preview. The two men got into a fight while they were supposed to be cage-side spectators at UFC 296 in December. In the beginning, it appeared the two men were playfully bothering one another to play to the crowd, but it got ugly quickly.
Much of the hatred (at least on Strickland’s part) has to do with du Plessis bringing up his opponent’s troubled childhood. It’s been well-documented that he grew up in an abusive home.
That was enough of a cue for du Plessis who essentially warned that he would beat Strickland worse than his father did. It was a tasteless remark, but it certainly got everyone’s attention heading into their bout.
An Unapologetic Interview
In a recent interview, du Plessis said that he has absolutely no remorse for his words and that Strickland needs to get over it all.
“I don’t regret anything,” du Plessis told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “I said what I said. Listen, if you’re dishing it out, you’re going to get it. I’m not going to keep on hammering on it, but I stand by what I said.”
“I did not joke about it. What happened was fact. I stated fact. He joked about it, in previous interviews. I didn’t joke about it, I stated the facts.”
“Obviously, it had a massive effect on him. I won’t be hammering on that because it’s not necessary. I got the results I wanted. I don’t need to hammer on one thing.”
“It’s terrible that it happened to him… but it did,” du Plessis concluded. “Don’t project onto others what you don’t want to happen to you. That’s the way it is. He disrespected me, disrespected my coach, and I won’t let that slide.”
“So take that and now we’re on a clean page. We start over. It’s strictly business. Nothing’s personal. I have no animosity towards him. I said what I said, what happened, happened, there’s no animosity, from my side at least. I’m here to do my business. I’m here to win a fight.”
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