Sean Strickland beating the division’s best
Sean Strickland is an enigma.
The American fighter is taking on Dricus Du Plessis in the main event of UFC 312. The two’s first fight went to a split decision that had many thinking Strickland did enough to retain his title.
Now the shoe is on the other foot and the burden will be on “Tarzan” to do enough to snatch the title away and back home to the United States.
Sean Strickland’s unlikely rise
Nobody thought Sean Strickland ever had a shot of becoming champion. Every important fighter he’d fought he lost. At welterweight he facilitated the rise of Santiago Ponzinibbio and Kamaru Usman. Upon his move north to middleweight, Alex Pereira used him as a stepping stone to the title.
Sean Strickland was supposed to lose to Israel Adesanya. He was the beneficiary of Adesanya’s work and cleaning out of the division. Adesanya opted to face the fifth ranked Strickland because all challengers ahead of him had fallen by “The Last Stylebender’s” sword.
But Strickland rose to the occasion. Near the end of round number one, Strickland dropped Adesanya and didn’t look back. While he didn’t get the finish, Strickland kept his foot on the gas and upset the great Adesanya to make himself the middleweight king.
The new rival
Dricus Du Plessis would go on to defeat Sean Strickland, an unlikely champion in his own right. Du Plessis wasn’t worried about Strickland’s striking. He brought the fight to the champion. Now the two are running it back at UFC 312 after “Stillknocks” defeated the aforementioned Adesanya.
Strickland was not outgunned against Du Plessis way back at UFC 297. He has since beat Paulo Costa and waited for his shot at the title again. Now rewarded one, Strickland will have to go to war and recapture what made him a champion.
Dricus Du Plessis is a tough challenger. Sean Strickland will have to dig deep. But he’s done that in the past. He defeated Adesanya. Other divisional rivals have fallen to him, sometimes surprisingly. Brendan Allen, Paulo Costa, Nassourdine Imavov, all of these have lost to Strickland.
He just needs to add one more name to his hit list.
