If there’s one man who should have valuable insight into the upcoming UFC middleweight title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev, it’s Sean Strickland.
The former middleweight champion Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) has faced current titleholder Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) twice in UFC title bouts over the past 18 months—first losing the belt to the South African at UFC 297, then coming up short in their rematch at UFC 312 earlier this year.
Du Plessis is scheduled to defend his title at UFC 319 in August against Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC)—a fighter Strickland knows well, having trained with the undefeated Chechen at Xtreme Couture.
"They can grapple," Strickland said of Du Plessis and Chimaev during a recent interview with Helen Yee. "Someone like me, I've been training these f*ckers for years. I usually could counter-wrestle and grapple them. So, I just don't know if f*cking Dricus can be able to counter-wrestle him. But if he can, I think he wins, hands down. I sparred the f*cking Chechen wh*re. Hands down, I think Dricus wins. It's just going to come down to are you going to be able to stop that and counter-wrestle him? You can. It's not hard."
Who's Next for Strickland?
While all eyes will be on the middleweight title fight at UFC 319, Sean Strickland is focused on rebuilding after his loss to Dricus Du Plessis. As for his next opponent, “Tarzan” has his sights set on someone he’s recently clashed with on social media: former welterweight champion Belal Muhammad (24-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC).
"Belal would be a fun fight," Strickland said. "That would be a fun one. Sack up, dog. This is it. You can sack the f*ck up, dude. All the sh*t you talked. We can finally make it happen. Lost your belt. You kinda got f*cked up. I kinda got f*cked up. We should make that fight happen, Belal."
