Dominic Criniti
UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis and his challenger, Sean Strickland, are preparing to go to war at UFC 312, with both men predicting a finish in Sunday's main event in Sydney.
The UFC will return to the harbour city this weekend after a wildly successful UFC 293 in September 2023, headlined by Strickland stunning the world with a dominant victory over Kiwi Israel Adesanya.
In the interim, Strickland lost his belt on the first chance of asking to Du Plessis, who went on to also defeat Adesanya at UFC 305 in Perth just under six months ago.
Both fighters seem very confident in outdoing their showing in the first match-up at UFC 297 last January, where Du Plessis and Strickland left it all in the cage in a nail-biting five-round war.
Speaking at the UFC 312 press conference, Du Plessis noted the intensity of the last fight but didn't hide his intent of adding another finish to his already impressive professional fighting resume.
"After a first fight like that, [predicting a] method of victory is hard," Du Plessis said.
"I'm going out there looking for that finish from the first bell. And if it has to go to the last bell I'll be looking for that knockout from the word go until the end of that fight."
Dricus Du Plessis (left) and Sean Strickland eyeball each other ahead of their UFC 312 fight. Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Du Plessis boasts an impressive 8-0 record in the UFC with seven of those wins coming by way of an early stoppage.
The South African has only gone to a decision twice in his 22-fight career, with his most recent full-length bout coming against Strickland at UFC 297.
In usual Strickland fashion, the former champion didn't mince his words when discussing how he thought the fight would play out.
"Let me lay down some truth on you pussies," Strickland declared.
"Excuse my language, sorry Dana [White, the UFC's CEO].
"You guys, I'm not going to get a bonus after this one.
"The man [Du Plessis] has a cinder block for a head, you see him the next day, the guy can take damage.
Dricus Du Plessis speaks at the UFC 312 press conference. Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
"We're probably going to have a five-round war, I'm probably going to try and put his arse down, he's going to try and put my arse down.
"One of us is going to get f—ed up and it ain't going to be me. To the f—ing death, I think the Dutchman can agree."
Out of the many nicknames Strickland has given Du Plessis in their year-long rivalry, "The Dutchman" is undoubtedly his favourite, with the American poking fun at South Africa's historical ties to the Netherlands.
"We're going to put on a war and we're gonna try to f–k each other up," Strickland continued.
"That's a promise we both can make you guys."
