Just when we thought that the dust had settled from the UFC 297 main event that saw Dricus du Plessis capture middleweight gold from Sean Strickland in Toronto, many fans are continuing their heated debate online as to who really should have been named victor.
Du Plessis recently let SuperSportTV know that it was Sean Strickland who told him right after the fight that he (Du Plessis) deserved to win the main event fight.
“He came to me in the cage,” Du Plessis said in his interview with SuperSportTV.
“And I think this is the first time I’ve said this – he came to me in the cage immediately after the fight, before they announced me as the new champion. And I went to him and I shook his hand and I said, ‘You’re a warrior, well done. It was a great fight.’ And he said ‘No, you definitely beat me.’ He said to me ‘You deserve it, you won that fight.’”
Now this new information from Dricus conflicts with what Strickland has said on his social media as the reason why Du Plessis won the five-round war; Strickland says it was due to a head butt he had sustained in the fight.
Strickland may have believed that Dricus won the fight at the time inside the cage, but after talking to his team and seeing the fight run back he could have changed his mind.
It was a close fight, that is one thing we all can agree. The fans, the fighters, and even Dana White can debate who won but at the end of the day, the history books will always and forever have Dricus du Plessis as the winner between the two at UFC 297.
What’s Next in the Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis Saga?
Does the UFC have Strickland and Du Plessis run it back? Or do they need to move on from UFC 297?
Would the intense debates end if the same outcome happened in a rematch? Who knows, as the MMA community seems to be a battle ground of arguments lately.
For Sean Strickland, his rivalry with foe Ian Machado Garry has picked right back up after Garry mocked Strickland’s main event performance. For Dricus du Plessis, a battle for Africa against Israel Adesanya could be something that is way more important than a rematch with someone he has already beaten.
Fight fans, what are your thoughts on the situations that have unfolded since UFC 297? Did you score it for Sean Strickland? Or did you think the judges got it right crowning Dricus du Plessis as the new UFC Middleweight champion?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
