“He Does Nothing Right” – Sean Strickland Explains Dricus Du Plessis Does Everything Wrong Ahead of UFC 312

Sean Strickland can’t figure out how a guy who seemingly does everything wrong inside the Octagon and keeps winning.

When Dricus Du Plessis heads to Sydney, Australia this weekend for the UFC’s second pay-per-view of 2025, he’ll look to score his second successful defense of the middleweight title by beating the same man he defeated to take the crown last year.

Du Plessis, undeniably one of the most unconventional fighters on the UFC roster, goes into his UFC 312 headliner against Sean Strickland boasting an impressive 8-0 record inside the Octagon. That is a pretty impressive stat for a guy who does “nothing right” according to his next challenger.

“There’s no question. The thing about Dricus is, he does nothing right, but it always works out,” Strickland said on UFC 312 Countdown. “He fights hard, he’s awkward, he’s still a bit unorthodox.”

Sean Strickland plans to bring ‘more pressure, less skill’ in rematch with du plessis

In their first meeting at UFC 297, Du Plessis narrowly outpointed Strickland to secure a split-decision victory and claim the 185-pound crown. Since then, he’s scored a stunning fourth-round submission victory over Israel Adesanya in August. Now, he’ll try to fend off Strickland who is hellbent on taking back the title he lost and handing ‘DDP’ his first loss on MMA’s biggest stage.

To do that, ‘Tarzan’ plans to lean less on his world-class boxing and instead try to make his rematch with Du Plessis more of a dog fight.

“The hard thing was when I got that cut, it really changed the dynamic of the fight but I just think with this fight, it just needs to be a dog fight,” he told ESPN. “More pressure, less skill.”

That shouldn’t be a problem for a guy who routinely challenges his opponents to fight to the death.