Morning Report: Sean Strickland calls for Dricus Du Plessis rematch, asks ‘When does the champ ever lose a close fight?’

Sean Strickland nonetheless believes he ought to have retained his title in opposition to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297.

The middleweight title reign of the controversial “Tarzan” was a short-lived one. After a stellar 2023 that noticed him seize the accolade of Fighter of the 12 months within the minds of many, Strickland went toe-to-toe with South Africa’s Du Plessis on Canadian soil this previous January. Sadly for Strickland, the judges noticed the end in favor of Du Plessis, who heard “and new” through a aggressive break up resolution.

Strickland, 33, spoke up after the loss and expressed how he felt he did sufficient to win the battle. Going ahead, the American doesn’t seem like in talks to obtain a right away rematch as former two-division champion Israel Adesanya and Khamzat Chimaev have been most talked about within the dialog. Ought to Adesanya get the chance, it will be one other shot at gold after a loss like he had final 12 months in opposition to former champion Alex Pereira.

Unsurprisingly, Strickland doesn’t assume that’s how the division’s title image ought to shake out, particularly after he grew to become the one to final dethrone Adesanya to start out his reign in September.

“You already know I don’t care about struggle politics or a belt but it surely makes me chortle they offer ‘Izzy’ [Israel Adesanya] a rematch to Alex [Pereira] after getting slept..” Strickland tweeted.

“I misplaced an in depth resolution that Dana [White] himself thought I received. Everybody did.. The stats did. That must be run again..”

Statistically, Strickland outstruck Du Plessis 183 to 140 in whole strikes, per UFC Stats. Spherical by spherical, at worst, Strickland tied strike rely with Du Plessis in spherical two with 26 a chunk. Grappling-wise, Du Plessis outgrappled Strickland six takedowns to none all through the five-round affair with three of these in spherical 4, two in spherical one, and one in spherical two.

The struggle was Strickland’s second consecutive outdoors of his dwelling nation of the U.S., which has led him to trace at some potential shenanigans from Toronto’s athletic fee. By no means shy to state his opinion, Strickland stays lower than complimentary towards the nation as he additionally was on struggle week.

“And man I don’t wanna pull this card however when does the champ ever lose an in depth struggle?” Strickland added. “Once you’re in Canada with a bunch of soiled f****** leftists.”

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The MMA Hour.

Tybura’s finest finishes.

O’Malley BTS.

Tsarukyan’s Street to UFC 300.

Teaser.

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Trivium is Immortal.

Gonna be good.

If I needed to see it, so do you.

Open exercise.

Bravery.

Oh, boy…

Time flies, certainly.

In all actuality, there isn’t a clear-cut appropriate No. 1 middleweight contender. Who’s most compelling for DDP? Most likely the 2 choices most talked about … and there’s the historical past with Adesanya. So, both means, I don’t assume there’s a “good” reply to this entire equation.

Thanks for studying!

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