Strickland beaten ‘fair and square’ as Dricus says he wants Chimaev next

After his clinical title defence in Sydney on Sunday, South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis had no doubt as to who he wants to fight next in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight division.

Du Plessis outclassed American Sean Strickland for 25 minutes to retain his title at UFC312 in Sydney on Sunday.

All three judges scored the fight in favour of the South African to put to bed any doubts as to who is the better fighter between the two, and the best in the middleweight division.

Just over a year ago DDP won the title from Strickland via a split decision which left the mixed martial arts community torn over the result.

‘Kicked my ass’

This time around it was a no contest as Du Plessis kicked and punched his way to an easy victory, which included a vicious punch that broke Strickland’s nose in the third round.

But the hard as nails Strickland refused to go down and in the end it didn’t matter as Du Plessis secured his second successful title defence.

“I popped it back in place and kept fighting for you,” said Strickland. “He kicked my ass fair and square, props to him.”

Du Plessis, whose fight style has been labelled as awkward and unorthodox, was impressed with the way he kept his cool.

“The big thing for me was, I was more calm, more calculated. I got a bit carried away when I broke his nose. I smelt blood and my corner had to settle me down,” Du Plessis said at the post-fight press conference.

The win stretched DDP’s win-streak in the UFC to nine.

Next in line

Now while there have been rumours floating around of a possible move up to light heavyweight for DDP, he admitted there is still plenty of unfinished business in his current weight division.

And the first name on his lips is that of unbeaten Russian, Khamzat Chimaev, and Du Plessis has no plans of moving up until he has that scalp on his belt.

“Khamzat is next. I want to make sure that there is no doubt that I am the best middleweight and he deserves a hiding,” said a chuckling Du Plessis.

“My gameplan against him will be to outwrestle him,” was the simple answer when asked how he thought a fight against Chimaev – who is world class freestyle wrestler – would play out.

In the co-main event on the night, Chinese strawweight queen Zhang Weili successfully defended her title for a third straight time, dominating previously unbeaten American challenger Tatiana Suarez.

“I was well prepared for this fight. Tatiana is very strong, but I just focused on myself,” said Zhang, who stretched her record to 26-3.