Sean Strickland shares bizarre reason for avoiding fight replays, reveals coach "forced" him to rewatch Dricus du Plessis fight ahead of UFC 312

Sean Strickland has not entered the octagon since last June when he defeated Paulo Costa via split decision at UFC 302 to earn another middleweight title opportunity. He will make his return at UFC 312 this weekend as he challenges Dricus du Plessis for the title in a rematch of their closely contested clash at UFC 297, which 'Stillknocks' won via split decision to dethrone 'Tarzan'.

The No.1-ranked middleweight recently sat down with Brett Okamoto of ESPN MMA, where he revealed that he does not watch his fights back but was forced to watch his first clash with du Plessis, stating:

"I've never watched a fight of mine, ever. Ever, no, I don't watch my fights... Maybe if I have a cool stoppage, I might watch a highlight of it to repost, but no. I just [get] low self-esteem. Even when I'm doing things right, in my head, I'm doing things wrong. You just have such a low opinion of [yourself] - again guy, I'm a really happy guy. I'm happy, dude, my life is f**king good."

Strickland continued:

"I prefer not to... [Eric Nicksick] f**king forced me to do it. Generally, if you ask me to do something nicely, I'm like, 'Alright, f**k it, I'll do it.'"

Check out Sean Strickland's comments on being forced to watch his first fight with Dricus du Plessis below:

Strickland's rematch with du Plessis will mark just the second time he has fought the same opponent twice in his mixed martial arts career. The first such instance came well over a decade ago when he faced Brandon Hunt in back-to-back clashes on the regional scene, winning both bouts via first-round TKO.

---

Sean Strickland praises Dricus du Plessis ahead of UFC 312

Sean Strickland has not had many nice things to say about his upcoming opponent. He did offer Dricus du Plessis rare praise ahead of UFC 312 while speaking with Brett Okamoto of ESPN MMA, stating:

"What I tell people at the highest levels of competition, motherf**kers break. I don't break, he doesn't f**king break. You think at some point a round is going to come where he's going to get off the stool and be like, 'I don't want to be here.' 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 on Dricus du Plessis below:

Du Plessis has managed to continue to rack up wins despite having a style that many have described as sloppy and unorthodox. While Strickland was not happy with the loss in their first bout, 'Stillknocks' believes that he should have won via unanimous decision. Both fighters will look to settle the score as they share the cage this weekend.