Dricus du Plessis has fired back at the shock ‘stabbing’ threats of UFC middleweight star Sean Strickland, saying: “He can’t touch me with a jab so he won’t touch me with a knife”.
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia on the eve of his UFC 297 title showdown, the South African challenger also suggested people around Strickland should be doing more to help him emotionally – and, likely, remove all knives and firearms from his house.
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However despite having now clearly rattled the controversial American champ twice – both at a press conference and then chaotic Las Vegas fight crowd brawl – du Plessis insists he will not sledge the champ when they throw down in Sunday’s hyped UFC 297 headliner in Toronto, Canada.
Currently on an undefeated UFC tear of six straight wins – which most recently included Australia’s Robert Whittaker – du Plessis has been at odds with Strickland since a press conference to launch their bout in December.
During proceedings, the 30-year-old not only revived Strickland’s childhood abuse traumas, but warned: “You think your dad beat the s … out of you? Your dad doesn’t have s … on me … every childhood memory you have is going to come back when I’m in there with you.”
A day later, with both in the crowd at UFC 296 in Las Vegas, Strickland leapt over a row of seats inside T-Mobile Arena and attacked du Plessis in wild scenes.
The champ then went on Theo Von’s podcast to suggest the subject of his past should be “off limits” and more recently has even suggested he will “f … ing stab” du Plessis if he makes mention of it again.
To all of which the challenger says what?
“Listen, he’s definitely the type of guy that would do it,” du Plessis told Fox Sports Australia on Wednesday.
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“But he can’t touch me with a jab so he won’t touch me with a knife.
“If he’s going to do something like that he needs to have a gun …”
Um, the guys does seem to have more than a couple of those, too.
“What can I say?” du Plessis continued.
“(The comments) sound crazy … but I don’t think Sean will do anything.
“I ran into him in the hotel lobby this morning and there was no stabbing.
“Sean Strickland isn’t a bad guy.
“He just isn’t in control of his emotions.
“He’s simply not.
“And we’ve seen that.
“So keep the knives away from him.
“I know he has a lot of guns too so maybe it’s time to take a break, I don’t know.
“But the people around him do need to do something about this.
“I don’t know what more warning signs you’re waiting for.”
Asked about the press conference stoush which started it all, du Plessis continued: “For me, I think I did a good deed.
“Sean was a bully who had always said whatever he wanted.
“Who went and crossed every line there ever was.
“But then when he got it back, and after having thrown a couple of jabs at me, he wanted to play victim.
“So now he knows what it feels like.
“Maybe he will have a little more respect for people.”
Would you do it the same with your time over?
“I would do it all the same again, yes,” du Plessis continued.
“I said what I said.
“He got beat on the microphone for the first time.
“And then, he was like a kid who hears ‘no’ for the first time and starts throwing a tantrum.
“That’s what we saw.
“He’s always saying whatever he wants with absolutely no filter … and then one sentence absolutely crumbled him.
“He got triggered.
“And so now he wants to take the moral high ground?
“No, no, no, it doesn’t work like that.
“You don’t decide where the line is.
“You’re the last person to decide where that line is about morals, what you can so and whatnot.
“Instead, and now you know how it feels, maybe you will have a little more respect for your opponents.”
While du Plessis has clearly struck a nerve with his rival, he insisted he would not be sledging when it mattered most – in the Octagon this Sunday (AEST).
“No, no, no, that won’t happen,” the challenger stressed.
“The guy who showed up to that press conference, he was there to win that press conference.
“That’s it.
“I was there to show that no matter where this thing goes – on the ground, on the feet, in the clinch, even on the microphone – I’m better than you.
“That’s what that was.
“That’s the point I was proving.
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“But that guy isn’t the same one stepping into the cage.
“The fighter steps into the cage.
“And the fighter doesn’t have time for that.
“Doesn’t have time to try and be funny look good for the cameras and scream stuff.
“When that fight starts I’m there to win at all costs.”
Elsewhere, du Plessis also responded to revelations made by Australia’s Robert Whittaker this week that he not only carried injury into their fight at UFC 290, but likely should have withdrawn from the fight.
“Only Rob can answer what happened,” he said.
“But I got exactly what I expected from that fight.
“And it went exactly as I thought it would.
“I had an injury too.
“That’s why I couldn’t take the Israel Adesanya fight afterwards.
“I went into that fight extremely injured, it happened just before we fought.
“But that’s the fight game.
“If you step in there and that cage door closes with you inside, you’re ready.
“But if Rob wasn’t 100 per cent I feel sorry for him.
“I know fighters rarely compete at 100 per cent but if he was injured I feel sorry for him.
“But we’ve all been there, all had to deal with it, and the fight went exactly as I planned it.
“It remains one of the greatest moments of my career.”
Du Plessis also said that if he beats Strickland this weekend, he would happily go straight into a fight with Adesanya – who is rumoured to be flying into Canada for the bout.
Asked if he expects the UFC superstar, who was upset by Strickland last start, to enter the cage, and potentially steal his limelight, with a win, he said: “Not at all.
“Once I beat Sean that’s my moment.
“So he can try to seek that attention he wants.
“But the more he tries the more he looks like an idiot. I’m not worried about that at all.
“The moment will be mine.
“And I will soak it all in.
“And if he still tries to make something like that happen … he’s not the champion anymore. He is a guy begging for a shot.”
But you would fight him next?
“Yes, definitely,” he said. “I would 100 per cent be happy with that.”