UFC 297: Sean Strickland Threatens to 'Stab' Dricus Du Plessis in Post-Brawl Texts

"If you bring that stuff up again, I will f***ing stab you.’”

Sean Strickland claims he sent a mutually beneficial warning to middleweight title challenger Dricus Du Plessis following their viral brawl at UFC 296.

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Combat sports fans are well-acquainted with fighters getting physical with one another outside of the cage or ring, but seeing Strickland politely ask Gilbert Burns’ family to move before he jumped at Du Plessis during the final UFC card of 2023 was one of the more surprising altercations in recent memory. 

The two middleweights will finally have a chance to settle things this weekend when they headline UFC 297 in Toronto, and Strickland recently told his teammate Chris Curtis that he messaged Du Plessis after their brawl to warn the South African against mentioning anything about his childhood trauma.

UFC CEO Dana White admitted that Du Plessis and Strickland were sitting too close at UFC 296 :: (ESPN/Zuffa LLC)

“I actually talked to Dricus after [the brawl],” Strickland explained on The Man Dance. “I actually sent him a f***ing message, and I was like ‘Dude, listen Dricus, we’re gonna go try and murder each other. But if you bring that stuff up again, I will f***ing stab you.’”

Never shy about speaking his mind, Strickland has been open about discussing the abuse he suffered as a child but has also taken heat from other members of the UFC roster for his perceived double standard when it comes to using personal matters as ammunition for his trash talk. 

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Du Plessis quite clearly struck a nerve when he referenced a “childhood memory” during a press conference with Strickland, but the UFC middleweight champion apparently managed to convince “Stillknocks” that those kinds of remarks might jeopardize their fight.

Strickland and Du Plessis will settle things at the first UFC PPV of 2024.  / (Zuffa LLC)

“He f***ing was cool about it. But I mean again, I’m not telling you 'I don’t want to fight you Dricus'….I’m just saying that that’s a line that when crossed, it transcends fighting…If I go to Canada and you bring that up, well guess what - I’m gonna go to jail, they’re gonna deport me. We spent eight weeks of training for no f***ing reason.”

UFC 297 does feature a women’s bantamweight title bout that could have slotted in as the main event if the middleweight headliner were to fall through, although Strickland attracted quite a bit of criticism for his comments about that matchup between Mayra Bueno Silva and Raquel Pennington.

Provided nothing occurs during fight week to derail the bout, Strickland will attempt to defend his middleweight belt for the first time and also hand Du Plessis his first UFC loss when the pair square off in Toronto on January 20.

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