"He might've died on the stool" - Sean Strickland claims Dricus du Plessis is a tougher fight than Israel Adesanya despite beating "two dead horses"

Sean Strickland will look to defend his title for the first time against Dricus du Plessis in the main event of UFC 297 this weekend, and the champion expects a tougher fight from the South African challenger than former 185-pound king Israel Adesanya.

Strickland pulled off one of the biggest upsets of 2023 when he dominantly outclassed Adesanya over five rounds to win the belt. 'Tarzan' believes that his upcoming fight won't come as easy as his title-winning effort seemingly was.

When asked about du Plessis from a fighting perspective during media day ahead of UFC 297, the reigning champion said:

''I think it's a harder fight than Izzy [Israel Adesanya]. The thing about Dricus is that, dude, he just likes to fight, you know? Is he the best? Probably not, but like, he just goes in there and he just fights to win you know? That's a hard fight, man.''

Strickland then took aim at du Plessis' UFC record, claiming that, during his ascent, 'Stillknocks' beat 40-year-old Derek Brunson, who isn't even on the roster anymore:

''I'm better than him, I'm better grappler, I'm better f***ing Jiu-Jitsu, I mean what is his accolades? He f***ing beat a dead horse Derek Brunson. Is he even in the UFC? They f***ing cut him after that, 'cause that performance was so f***ing terrible. He died on the f***ing stool!"

Touching on du Plessis' win over Robert Whittaker as well, Strickland concluded:

"Then you [Dricus du Plessis] go fight Whittaker, and Whittaker was a great fight, but like, was that the [best] Whittaker we've ever seen? Whittaker f***ing quit. Maybe he's just f***ing that good but I just think he fought two dead horses.''

Catch Sean Strickland's comments below (3.20):

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Israel Adesanya predicts UFC 297 headliner

Israel Adesanya could potentially be next in line for the victor of this weekend's pay-per-view headliner. 'The Last Stylebender' likely wants to avenge his shocking loss to Sean Strickland and also has a heated rivalry with Dricus du Plessis, especially after their fiery in-cage encounter at UFC 290 last year.

Adesanya notably predicted that du Plessis would not only defeat but also submit Strickland while doing a UFC 297 preview on his YouTube channel. The Nigerian-born Kiwi said:

''I’m going to go with Dricus. Is it going to go the distance? I’m going to say no. Not that I don’t respect Sean or his skills, the guy beat me. Of course, I respect his skills. I’ll say submission. He’ll submit him.”

Adesanya added:

“Dricus is going to try to wrestle him. Stand up in the beginning, do his off-beat rhythm, all that stuff. He might get jabbed in the first round by Sean and then have to really switch to the grappling because Sean’s jab is underrated. I never underestimated it but it’s underrated.”

Catch Israel Adesanya's comments below (8.37):