Sean Strickland believes he deserves a middleweight title rematch against Dricus du Plessis.
The two middleweights locked horns in a battle of will and skill at UFC 297, where DDP emerged victorious by a razor-thin split decision, which Strickland believes warrants an immediate rematch, although the UFC is in favor of Israel Adesanya getting the next title shot.
Strickland appears to have caught wind of the UFC’s potential plans and has begun advocating for himself.
“You know I don’t care about fight politics or a belt, but it makes me laugh they give Izzy a rematch to Alex (Pereira) after getting slept (at UFC 281). I lost a close decision that Dana himself thought I won. Everyone did. The stats did. That needs to be run back,” Strickland wrote on X.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-media-max-width=”560″><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>You know I don't care about fight politics or a belt but it makes me laugh they give izzy a rematch to alex after getting slept..<br><br>I lost a close decision that dana himself thought I won. Everyone did.. The stats did. <br><br>That needs to be run back..</p>— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) <a href=”https://twitter.com/SStricklandMMA/status/1767973637100023869?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 13, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
To Adesanya’s credit, he had defended his middleweight title five times before losing to Pereira at UFC 281. More so, he was winning until the Brazilian finished the fight in the final round.
Strickland on the other hand lost to Du Plessis in his first title defense.
The American will likely have to rebuild, and rumor has it that the UFC is planning a number one contender’s fight between ‘Tarzan’ and former champion, Robert Whittaker.
Does Sean Strickland deserve an immediate rematch against Dricus Du Plessis?