Ex-champion issues dire warning to Dricus du Plessis about UFC 312 fight against Sean Strickland: "Cannot stay in that striking position too much"

Dricus du Plessis would be well advised to pursue a particular strategy in this weekend's championship rematch with Sean Strickland according to a former multi-division UFC champion. This advice was imparted on a recent episode of the podcast Pound 4 Pound previewing some of the big bouts for UFC 312 on Feb. 8.

Show hosts Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo were breaking down the looming pay-per-view headliner with each man spotlighting the machinations of this middleweight title matchup. Putting himself into du Plessis' position of facing someone in a rematch after sharing the cage with them for five rounds of live competition, Cejudo said:

"25 minutes of understanding somebody's fight pace and threshold, he's [du Plessis'] gonna have to start wrestling early right away. He's gonna have to kick and he's gonna have to wrestle but he cannot stay in that striking position too much because, man, Strickland can turn around and beat this dude."

"Like he really can, man. Strickland, even against the cage, dude, he's a hard dude to take down as well. He's going to have to do everything off the open and could he bring in that wrestling right away?"

Check out Henry Cejudo's viewpoint on the Du Plessis vs. Strickland sequel clash (5:57):

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Dricus du Plessis on the lessons learned from the first Sean Strickland bout

To Henry Cejudo's point from earlier, Dricus du Plessis took some lessons away from his first Sean Strickland clash that the defending champion feels will behoove him in the rematch. The 31-year-old recently got into those specifics during an interview with TalkSPORT.

Du Plessis described how he saw the third round of their initial clash at UFC 297 in Toronto, Canada as a pivotal moment in the bout. The 185-pound titleholder felt that stanza of the fight grew his confidence, with du Plessis saying he felt Strickland realized at that juncture that the then-challenger was not going anywhere.

The South African also encroached into the fourth round in that initial Strickland bout for the first time in his pro-MMA career up until that point. At that moment, Du Plessis described it as feeling like he was on a cloud and that he felt invincible in the throes of his first-ever foray into the championship rounds.

Du Plessis felt that the fourth frame of the fight was by far his best round and it imparted confidence to him that he could push his usual intense pace over a full 25-minute bout.