WATCH | Dricus du Plessis rushes Sean Strickland at UFC 297 ceremonial weigh-ins
The UFC 297 ceremonial weigh-ins between Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis were wild.
‘Tarzan’ and ‘Stillknocks’ are currently expected to meet in the main event of UFC 297 tomorrow night in Canada. For Sean Strickland, the championship defense will be the first of his middleweight title defense. Last September, he famously won the title with an upset unanimous decision win over Israel Adesanya.
Meanwhile, Dricus du Plessis earned the title opportunity with a second-round knockout victory over Robert Whittaker last July. The South African will now head to the octagon tomorrow night, to try and win UFC gold. In the build to du Plessis’ pay-per-view main event against Sean Strickland, he’s gotten quite personal.
At the promotional seasonal press conference last month, Dricus du Plessis famously mocked the abuse that Sean Strickland suffered at the hands of his father. Days later, the middleweight champion attacked his opponent in the crowd at UFC 296. To his credit, Dana White took the blame for the incident and acknowledged that he shouldn’t have sat them so close to each other.
However, the two seemingly buried the hatchet earlier this week, and were seen hugging on UFC 297 embedded. Despite the rivalry seeming over, Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland had a heated face-off at the ceremonial weigh-ins earlier today. As the champion sauntered over to the scale, the South African contender charged him. To his credit, Strickland was seemingly mocking him, walking incredibly slowly.
Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis face off at UFC 297 ceremonial weigh-ins
Luckily, Dana White and security were on hand to prevent anything from getting out of hand. Ultimately, Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis had a relatively routine face-off from that point forward. Still, the brief rush was just yet another incident in a very wild fight week.
Earlier this week, the UFC 297 press conference was even more wild. During the presser, one crazed fan rushed the stage, but not for any negative or nefarious reason. Instead, the man just wanted to shake Sean Strickland’s hand, which he appeared to do. The security incident was likely the reason the press conference wrapped up after just 20 minutes and a few brief questions.
Nonetheless, it seems that fans are in store for a wild one tomorrow night in Canada. Beyond Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis, the card also features another title bout in the co-main event. There, women’s bantamweight contenders Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva will fight for vacant gold. The title was famously left vacant, following Amanda Nunes’ retirement last June.
What do you make of this news? Are you excited for UFC 297? Who do you have in the middleweight title main event? Sean Strickland or Dricus du Plessis?
