Sean Strickland wants to ‘Make America Great Again’, not by voting Republican, but by bringing back the UFC Middleweight title to Las Vegas. Strickland held the belt for a brief period when he beat Israel Adesanya. However, in just his first title defense he lost the belt to Dricus Du Plessis and now he is doing everything in his power to get it back.
The American is definitely next in line for the title shot, and will have a chance to go at Dricus Du Plessis and bring the title back to America.
In fact, having lost the title to the South African via a controversial split decision only adds to his woes.
Regardless, DDP has been openly claiming that Strickland should have fought Robert Whittaker for the #1 contender spot since the Aussie is the rightful man for the job.
This has led to Strickland accusing DDP of ducking him. The former champ is sure he will get to fight him on American soil and isn’t afraid of calling out du Plessis.
“We will be fighting in the land of the free… You’re not ducking me Dutch man……… I know you’re going to try…. it’s not happening…..Dana white ‘you’re next in line’. Were bringing it back to America and the belt is staying back in America!”
We will be fighting in the land of the free… You’re not ducking me Dutch man……… I know you’re going to try…. it’s not happening…..
Dana white “you’re next in line”
Were bringing it back to America and the belt is staying back in America!
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) August 18, 2024
Dricus Du Plessis has not really addressed Sean Strickland as the next title contender. In fact, during his octagon interview, he did not even acknowledge the former champion.
Daniel Cormier asked him what he thought about Strickland calling him out for the title and the champion just said he does not care who his next opponent is.
But as mentioned before, in a recent interview during his post-fight press conference, he had claimed Robert Whittaker deserved the title shot over the American.
DDP prefers Whittaker over Strickland for title fight
Although DDP and Strickland’s first fight was close and a controversial decision win for the champion, he believes that the American had been defeated soundly, which is presumably why there has been little to no acknowledgement of Strickland’s demand for a rematch.
But he’s getting one, no matter what it seems. Regardless, during the post-fight press conference at UFC 305, an interviewer asked him who he thinks deserves the title shot next and he responded by saying,
“Robert Whittaker deserves the shot I think he’s been done over….Sean Strickland’s only saving grace is that he went a decision with me, that’s it.”
Dricus Du Plessis says he thinks Robert Whittaker deserves the title shot over Sean Strickland:
Agree or disagree with DDP? pic.twitter.com/q1Ypv5ruim
— Combat Buzz (@CombatBuzzX) August 18, 2024
The champ claims Robert Whittaker beat Paulo Costa in a more impressive manner than Sean Strickland did so he deserves the title shot. Now, while that remains an interesting idea, light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has also thrown his hat in the ring warning that he wanted to cut down to 185 to fight for the middleweight title.
And if that is a fight fans want to see, and yes, it very likely is, then UFC might just book ‘Poatan’ against DDP. And boy, you can do the numbers on that PPV yourself!
