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UFC 296 was more than just Leon Edwards taking down Colby Covington in the main event on Saturday night.
Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis had an all-out brawl that sets up UFC 297 in January.
At T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, cameras showed a wild scene where Du Plessis was sitting a couple of rows behind Strickland. Du Plessis was booing Strickland before the latter stood up, pointed an imaginary gun in his direction, and fired away.
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Opponents Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis face off during the UFC 2024 seasonal press conference at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Dec. 15, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
That’s when Strickland turned around and started having words with Du Plessis. Strickland, then, told those in between him and Du Plessis -- at least one kid was in the row behind him -- to move over.
With cameras still panned on them, Strickland approached Du Plessis and started to throw punches, landing his right hand on Du Plessis’ head numerous times.
The fight was eventually broken up, with UFC CEO Dana White in the middle of the scrum. Strickland was removed from T-Mobile Arena, per ESPN broadcaster Jon Anik over the pay-per-view.
UFC has done many promotions to hype future events, even during ones like Saturday night. But the Strickland-Du Plessis fight that’s set for UFC 297 in Toronto seems like there’s some real bad blood.
UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland attends the UFC 296 event at T-Mobile Arena on Dec. 16, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
The feud went to social media afterward, too.
"I go hard on everyone I know this, izzy mouth feeding his dog, Dricus kissing his coach and grabbing his cup," Strickland wrote on X, calling out fellow UFC fighter Israel Adesanya in the process. "[Sean] Omalley [sic] talking about sharing his wife in a podcast. You’re a man, on a world stage doing this in public."
Du Plessis fired right back with his own.
"Now I understand why you have a 33% finish rate, you hit like a girl, also 20 January the security won’t be there to save your life when I’m on top #rentfree," Du Plessis tweeted.
Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis had an all-out brawl that sets up UFC 297 in January. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
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Safe to say UFC 297 is going to be quite the spectacle, as Strickland, who is 28-5 in his MMA career with a 15-5 record in UFC, and Du Plessis, at 20-2 with an undefeated 6-0 UFC record, won’t have security to break up the fight this time.