Fans react as Dricus du Plessis shows off abs and absolutely ripped physique a week before UFC 312: "Please get rid of Sean Strickland for good"

Dricus du Plessis caught the attention of MMA fans worldwide as he recently showed his incredible physique ahead of UFC 312. Many extended their support while expressing their admiration for du Plessis.

Du Plessis will return to the octagon next month on Feb. 8 to make his second middleweight title defense in a rematch against Sean Strickland. The pay-per-view event will take place at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Before the title fight, the reigning 185-pound champion took to X and shared a picture of himself with the head coach of the CIT Performance Institute, Morne Visser, and French MMA fighter Hugo Guillon. Du Plessis looked completely shredded in the picture and captioned the post, writing:

''Ready to kill or be killed, Fight week is finally here! #ufc312 #stillknocks''

Fans soon rushed to the comments section to share their reactions.

One fan wrote:

''Please get rid of Strickland for good. He doesn’t deserve to fight for UFC gold''

Another one stated:

''Strickland won’t leave it for the judges this time around so u better go hard and u better hope u get it done early!''

Other fans wrote:

''Hope you worked some stand up defense. Strickland was peppering you with the Jab. I’m pumped about to be a great fight.''

''Must’ve been hard to get yourself motivated for this one champ… I can’t imagine training hard for someone you already beat fair and square. But let’s leave the judges out of it this time''

Check out more reactions below:

Fan reactions [Screenshots courtesy: @dricusduplessis on X]

In their first encounter at UFC 297 last year, du Plessis captured the 185-pound belt from Strickland via split decision, sparking a lot of controversy. The South African then successfully made his first title defense against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305. Notably, du Plessis became the first fighter to submit Adesanya.

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Sean Strickland acknowledges Dricus du Plessis' tenacity

Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis are set to lock horns once again at UFC 312 for the middleweight title next month.

Ahead of the title fight, Strickland spoke to ESPN MMA's Brett Okamoto and expressed his admiration for du Plessis' resilience, saying:

''What I tell people at the highest levels of competition, motherf**kers break. I don't break, he doesn't f**king break...You can blind him in the eye, break his f**king nose and he's going to get up, me included, and we're going to f**king fight. At our level, we don't f**king break and we will die for what we want.''

Check out Sean Strickland's comments below (via Home of Fight's X post):