Chael Sonnen sees Sean Strickland coming out with an extra fire at UFC 312.
Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) runs things back with middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in the Feb. 8 headliner at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN2, ESPN+).
Strickland lost his middleweight title to Du Plessis by split decision in a competitive back-and-forth contest at UFC 297. Strickland is adamant that he won the fight, but Sonnen disagrees.
“If there has ever been a guy that turns out to be one heck of a lot better than I knew he was, it’s Dricus Du Plessis,” Sonnen said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Daniel Cormier. “The other side of that coin, Sean Strickland has talked himself up very much and has a high level of confidence because he believes he beat him the first time. He believes he dominated him. That’s not what I saw.
“As a matter of fact, I’m not sure Sean didn’t lose all five rounds on my scorecard. Very close, real tight, but at the end of it, if you got to go a 10-9, I’m not sure I didn’t give them all to Dricus. The only reason I’m saying this is I don’t want Sean to necessarily fall for what he’s believing. I want him to study this guy, I want him to have a different game plan for this guy, I want him to really take Dricus serious.”
With Strickland now the hunter not the hunted, Sonnen thinks that will bring out extra added motivation from him.
“I do believe, Sean Strickland, when he was the champion of the world, did not care, or at least that’s what he was saying,” Sonnen continued. “The moment he lost that belt, boy that care meter went through the roof. And I do believe Sean is going to fight better trying to re-gain something than to defend something. That’s my own belief, but that’s the fight to make. Winner draws in (Khamzat) Chimaev, I can drink to that.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Chael Sonnen expects Sean Strickland ‘to fight better’ in Dricus Du Plessis rematch at UFC 312
