Is this how a UFC champion behaves? Strickland attacked an opponent he’ll face in January at a tournament, then taunted him: You fight like a girl!

On December 17, the UFC offered the last tournament of 2023. Unfortunately, however, the fighters didn’t just fight in the cage. Oft-criticized champion Sean Strickland took on his opponent Dricus Du Plessis, whom he will face in January, in the stands for his scatological behavior.

In September, Sean Strickland made a big splash. As a big underdog, he was able to defeat Israel Adesanya on points to become the new UFC middleweight champion. According to Izzy, he shouldn’t have fought for the title, because the organization didn’t want him to.

The reason is simple. Strickland is not exactly the right man to represent such a big brand as a champion. He has very controversial views, but he has a strong story behind him that he is fighting. But his behaviour is not entirely appropriate as he can’t always control himself.

He now has his first defence in front of him. He will be challenged by Dricus Du Plessis, a man who likes to provoke and who wanted to fight Adesanya to show everyone who is a true African.

Du Strickland vs Du Plessis is scheduled for the UFC 297 gala. It is therefore scheduled to take place on January 20. On Friday, however, the two fighters clashed at a big press conference where the organization unveiled news for the next year, and then attended the UFC 296 gala as spectators.

Unfortunately, they weren’t just stuck watching the fights. Who knows why, unfortunately, both fighters got into it with each other and the whole incident is being discussed a lot on social media.

Strickland and Du Plessis got into it in the stands

No one knows what preceded the whole conflict yet, however Sean Strickland out of nowhere attacked his upcoming opponent in the audience. Before the attack, however, he asked the family of fighter Gilbert Burns to get out of the way, then jumped on top of Dricus Du Plessis and started landing punches.

Social media is full of videos of the incident, with views from several different angles. However, none of the videos explain why the conflict occurred. But no one appears to have been hurt.

Du Plessis, of course, defended himself. Afterwards, he took to Twitter to mockingly address his opponent, “I can see why you only finished 33% of your matches. You have a punch like a girl. On January 20, security won’t save your life.”

However, it is questionable how the UFC will approach the whole situation. It’s not out of the question that Strickland could face some sort of punishment. However, that remains to be seen. If the organization will even address it at all.

Source: UFC, Twitter