At UFC 310 this past Saturday, it was announced that Dricus Du Plessis will defend his middleweight title. This will be against Sean Strickland at UFC 312.
This follows ongoing online exchanges between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev, teasing a potential matchup.
After Chimaev’s victory over Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 in October, Dricus Du Plessis expressed his desire to fight ‘Borz’ next, despite Dana White previously promising Strickland the title shot.
Sean Strickland vs Khamzat Chimaev: Growing Rivalry After UFC 312 Announcement
Since, losing his title to Dricus Du Plessis in January, Strickland has fought only once, earning a split decision victory over Paulo Costa.
After Strickland’s lacklustre performance, fans weren’t backing him for the next shot, especially with Chimaev’s recent victories.
Chimaev then submitted ‘The Reaper’ in the first round in dominant fashion, leading fans to call for him to be next in line for a title shot.
However, Chimaev recently revealed that he is already scheduled to be in Sydney on February 9th for seminars and fan meet-and-greets.
Following UFC 312 main event announcement, Strickland and Chimaev have exchanged words online, sparking the potential for a rivalry.
Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland trained together at Xtreme Couture under coach Eric Nicksick, who believes they’re building tension through messaging. Eric said this when he said to Submission radio;
“Sure, yeah (they’re trying to build a rivalry), they’re probably messaging each other about what they’ll say next, who knows? But they seemed to get along just fine when they trained at the gym,”
“I loved having Khamzat and Darren Till in the gym. They elevated the game for us, and everyone got along well, but I understand the situation now.”
“They’re both close to fighting each other, so maybe creating that bad blood is part of the process. But from what I saw during their training, everything was good between them,”
Nicksick Urges Strickland to Move On from ‘Robbery’ Claims and Focus on Rematch
Since losing the title, Sean Strickland has repeatedly claimed the decision was a ‘robbery’ and that he won the fight. However, his head coach, Nicksick, has advised him to stop feeling sorry for himself ahead of the rematch and move on from the first fight if he wants to seek revenge. Nicksick said this when he said;
“Here’s the thing, stop feeling sorry for yourself with the ‘we were robbed’ narrative. The fight is over, DDP won the belt and has since defended it. It’s like a fresh slate now,”
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
