Dricus Du Plessis didn’t like the way his first meeting with Sean Strickland ended in a split decision a little more than a year ago, so he made sure there was no doubt on Sunday at UFC 312 in Sydney.
In a rather lackluster rematch, Du Plessis retained his middleweight belt with a dominating unanimous decision over a bloodied Strickland.
“This was a big proving point for me, (but) I don’t want to make it a habit of these decisions," Du Plessis said. “The game plan here was stay calm, because (my coach) said, ‘You know you can knock somebody out. We know you have that dog (in you). Try and stay calm.’ Because It was really hard once I saw him grabbing at his nose.”
It was the second title defense for the 31-year-old Du Plessis (23-2) after defeating Israel Adesanya with a fourth-round submission on Aug. 17 in Perth, Australia.
The first round saw Strickland (29-7) trying to establish his jab, while Du Plessis stayed aggressive with an array of kicks.
Strickland continued to approach his attacks cautiously in the second round, attempting to pick his spots. Other than a strong right hand early in the round, it was Du Plessis who won the significant-strikes battle, 28-17.
The third drew more boos than it did action through the first half of the round, until an overhand right, and later a spinning back fist by Du Plessis landed.
The fourth round saw the most action, with the champion breaking Strickland’s nose with a hard right punch and then applying nonstop pressure on his challenger. While the first three rounds were extremely close, Du Plessis dominated the fourth.
Du Plessis continued to pepper Strickland’s nose in the final round, while staying on the attack to confirm the win.
In the co-main event, women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili (26-3-0) overcame a rough first round and controlled more than 21 minutes of her title defense against No. 1 contender Tatiana Suarez (11-1-0) to earn a unanimous decision to retain her belt.
Zhang has won her past four title defenses, three by unanimous decision and the other by second-round submission.
From the undercard:
Heavyweight Tallison Teixeira (8-0-0) made his UFC debut by scoring a first-round TKO over Justin Tafa (7-5-0). That made it eight straight bouts Teixeira has ended in the first round, this one lasting just 35 seconds.
In an action-packed light heavyweight bout, Jim Crute (12-4-2) and Rodolfo Bellato (12-2-1) both turned in impressive performances. Crute dominated the first round, while Bellato was better in the second. A very close third left the judges turning in a majority draw.
In a three-round welterweight bout, Jake Matthews (21-7-0) defeated Francisco Prado (12-3-0) by unanimous decision
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
FILE - Sean Strickland, right, hits Dricus Du Plessis during a middleweight title bout during the UFC 297 mixed martial arts event in Toronto, Jan. 21, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
