UFC312: Dricus beats Strickland to defend title in Sydney

A cool and clinical Dricus du Plessis picked apart American Sean Strickland for 25 minutes to successfully defend his Ultimate FIghting Championship (UFC) middleweight title in Sydney on Sunday.

It was a dominant performance by the South African as all three judges scored the fight in favour of DDP.

A sluggish Strickland had no answers on the night as Du Plessis landed punches and kicks at will, the most significant of which came in the third round when a devastating punch to the face broke the American’s nose.

This was the second successful defence of his middleweight belt and DDP is 9-0 in the UFC with his next fight being a possible encounter with Russian Khamzat Chimaev.

Nose break

“Trying to knock him out is next to impossible,” said a delighted and beaming Du Plessis in the octagon afterwards.

“The plan was to do that, or win by submission or dominate him over five rounds.”

The champion added: “The game plan was to stay calm, but once I saw him grab at his nose, I got excited. It took a minute to compose myself again.”

Du Plessis finished his interview by asking who would be willing to get into the octagon with him. He added: “This means the world … thank you for the support.”