Dricus du Plessis Reveals DM Conversation with Sean Strickland

Dricus Du Plessis confirmed that Sean Strickland did indeed reach out to him on social media and threaten to attack him if the South African decided to bring up his abusive childhood ahead of their UFC 297 clash.

Strickland (28-5) is scheduled to defend his middleweight strap in the UFC 297 main event on Saturday. The bad blood between the two started during a seasonal press conference last month where du Plessis (20-2) brought up Strickland’s abusive childhood in response to the champ alleging a sexual relationship between “Stillknocks” and his coach.

Strickland went on to attack du Plessis while attending UFC 296 the next day before being escorted out of the T-Mobile Arena by law enforcement. Strickland subsequently admitted that he was triggered by the trash talk and even revealed intimate details about his abusive childhood on a podcast with Theo Von.

While Strickland is known for voicing his unabashed and oftentimes controversial opinions, the champ has since said that certain boundaries must not be crossed with trash talk. Strickland has even threatened to “stab” du Plessis if the South African ever brings up his traumatic childhood.

“Stillknocks” recently admitted that while he isn’t really worried about Strickland attacking him before the fight, the idea of the champ potentially sabotaging the fight did cross his mind.

“Am I scared that he self-sabotages this fight? Sure. That is something I’ve thought about. Maybe trying everything to get out of it but no, for me right now, the last press conference was winning on the mic. That was winning with Sean Strickland at his own game. Right now, this week where we’re at, I’m not here to do that. I’m here to be the middleweight champion of the world. My focus is on fighting, not making jokes,” the 30-year-old said during UFC 297 media day.

Du Plessis also confirmed that Strickland direct messaged him on social media regarding crossing the line with trash-talking.

“[The message] said something along the lines of ‘listen, this is what happened, I’m sorry what I said about your coach and you but if there’s anything that’s crossing the line and listen, we sell a fight and all that but if there’s anything out of line that I said that you want me to pull back, I’ll apologize, I’ll even take back what I said. I’ll remove posts.”

“He said if there’s anything he shouldn’t say, he’ll lay back, but if I bring up anything with his childhood again, he said, ‘I’ll kill you and ruin your life and mine way before we step into the cage,’ something like that. That’s exactly his words. So, I’m like OK, this poor guy. This seems serious. I feel bad for him. I just replied and said ‘listen, there’s nothing you can say that has any effect on me. Go crazy.’

“There’s nothing he can say that can get under my skin. I’m the mentally strongest fighter in the world, and I told him, you can literally say whatever you want, all is fair in love and war. But I won’t say anything about your childhood again, cool. That’s how it came down.”