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Sean Strickland became the middleweight champion with a dominant decision victory over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293. Unfortunately, Strickland lost the title to Dricus du Plessis in his next fight at UFC 297 via split decision.
Analyzing both fights of Strickland, former UFC lightweight contender Josh Thomson pointed out the American fighter's blueprint to victory at UFC 312 against du Plessis.
In the recent episode of the Weighing In podcast with 'Big' John McCarthy, Thomson noted 'Tarzan' didn't fight in the backfoot against Adesanya, except in round 2 which 'The Last Stylebender' won.
On the contrary, the American couldn't replicate the same style throughout the fight against his South African counterpart.
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"The first fight was kind of close. It wasn’t a great fight. It could have been better. We’re going to see if Sean Strickland learned anything from that first fight. He could have done more. He should have done more. And I think he’s kicking himself in the a*s for not doing more. And so the fact is, we’re going to see how much he learned from that first fight. If he learned his lesson, he’s going to come out, stick and move, and just walk him down and put pressure."
"Because when he was putting pressure, he was having success, no different than when he fought Izzy. So, if he does the same thing in this fight that he did against Izzy, I think he gets the win. If he doesn’t, if he starts to take steps backward, he loses this fight," Thomson added.
Check out Josh Thomson's comments about Sean Strickland below [16:43]:
Legendary MMA referee John McCarthy points biggest difference-maker in Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis II
Like Josh Thomson, John McCarthy believes fighting on the backfoot resulted in Sean Strickland's loss at UFC 297. The legendary MMA referee pointed out Dricus du Plesis' awkward fighting style forced 'Tarzan' to move back.
In the backfoot, Sean Strickland couldn't control the range and mount his usual offense. McCarthy also noted the American fighter's apparent lack of diversity hurt him as du Plessis didn't have to worry about takedowns from his opponent.
On the other hand, the South African mixed wrestling with his striking, making his opponent guess. Although the 33-year-old's boxing is elite for MMA, the one-dimensional nature of the style made it easier for du Plessis to gameplan.
Nonetheless, the biggest difference in the UFC 312 main event is another thing, as McCarthy said:
"The big difference in this one, if you’re looking at it, for the most part, Sean is not a real knockout fighter. He’s a volume fighter. He doesn’t have that one-punch power to knock people out. He can hurt you, but he’s not going to put you unconscious with one shot. He’s a volume guy who has to hit you multiple times to put you in that position." [19:30 onwards in the aforementioned podcast]
"You know, the one thing you’ve seen out of Du Plessis is that he’s a finisher. Out of all of his fights you know, he's got what, 24 fights I wanna say. He’s got finishes in all of them except, I believe, two decisions, and one being against Strickland," he added.
