Sean Strickland failed to become only the second two-time middleweight champion in UFC history this past Saturday in his UFC 312 rematch against Dricus du Plessis. While the pair fought to a competitive split decision in their January 2024 first meeting, Strickland offered far less resistance in the rematch, allowing du Plessis to cruise to a comfortable unanimous decision win and move to 2-0 in their series.
Strickland, 33, has drawn plenty of criticism for his lackluster performance and questionable effort in the aftermath of the loss. Speaking Monday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show,” veteran analyst and former UFC fighter Din Thomas echoed sentiments that Strickland’s actions didn’t live up to his words.
“He knows who he is. He’s just not telling us that,” Thomas said. “That’s what fighters do. As a fighter, your job is to almost kind of conceal who you really are, because in those moments when you fight, you go out there and try to do your thing, but you know who you really are. I think he couldn’t hide from it this time.
“The difference is the spotlight. The lights, man — when them lights hit you, the real you shows up. The real you will expose yourself when the lights hit you, and that’s what’s happening to him. He’s not that guy. People think that I’m being mean. I’m not being mean. I’m not that guy. Not many people are that guy. Du Plessis is that guy, but [Strickland is] not. To go in there and be vulnerable and put your life on the line and go out there and fight really hard for 15 minutes — we all do hard stuff in life. But to do it in front of everybody when it’s time, I mean, it takes a special person. He might have been there a couple times in his career or whatever, but that’s not who he is now. We’ve seen it his last couple of fights. He’s just not willing to go in and be the dog that he told us he was.
“He wants to be,” Thomas continued. “Everybody wants to be. I think he means it. Every, ‘I’mma do this, I’mma do that, I’mma bust you up.’ But when you get out there and it’s time to do it, and you don’t do it — that’s not who you are. It’s not that you’re a fraud. You just gotta come to terms with it — that me passed. It happens to every fighter. At some point, in some careers, everybody is that guy. If you’re a good fighter, at some point you are, but you lose it. I think he might have just lost it.”
Du Plessis and Strickland each earned a single victory between their two fights — du Plessis submitted Israel Adesanya to defend his UFC middleweight title, while Strickland won a lackluster decision over Paulo Costa. Strickland had been vocal following his first “DDP” loss about his belief that he was robbed in the bout, and demanded to fight no more than the Costa fight to get his shot at the belt again.
Despite Thomas’ feelings about Strickland and his current place in the division, Thomas believed in Strickland’s tough talk and actually picked him to win his redemption in Sydney, Australia.
“He took that one fight against Paulo Costa, [then] he waited. He said, ‘I’m not doing another fight. I beat you the first time, I’m going to come back and beat you again.’ He said that. That was him, and he waited for this opportunity,” Thomas said of Strickland.
“I thought that his motivation would have been different [on Saturday]. That he would go out there and say, ‘You know what? I’m better than this guy, I’m motivated to come back as the champion, I’m going to go out there and beat this guy.’ That’s where I thought his mind was going to be at, but it wasn’t there.”
Throughout the build to UFC 312, speculation swirled that Strickland may have dealt with a staph infection during his camp. A visible sore was present on Strickland’s left arm, as can be seen in the image above. The former champion deflected and denied this in the event’s pre-fight press conference.
Excuses can be made for an injury or infection as serious as staph infection, however, Thomas doesn’t see that as a viable reason for Strickland’s performance.
“At the end of the day, that doesn’t affect your effort,” Thomas said of Strickland’s potential staph infection. “That doesn’t affect your motivation. It might, but if you’re a dog, you’re a dog. You go out there and you go, ‘I know I’m tired, but I deserve better. I’m going to give myself over to this moment, and I’m going to perform.’ He didn’t do that.
“So what happens is when you have any type of distraction, if you’re not really there — your motivation isn’t really there — you’re going to find the excuse. He can come back and say, ‘You know, I had staph.’ All these guys the week before [at UFC Saudi Arabia] were like, ‘The paint in the building was getting me.’ I get it, man. For sure. But when you’re completely motivated, and you’ve given yourself over to the game, you don’t let those things get in the way. Look at all the champs. I bet Dricus could have found a reason that he didn’t perform. He could have been like, ‘Hey man, I got a lot of stuff going on.’ But champions don’t do that. When you are motivated, nothing gets in the way.”
Du Plessis, 31, has now accrued two title defenses for his reign with his second win over Strickland. Undefeated uber-contender Khamzat Chimaev is very likely to be appointed as his next challenger.
Chimaev has been a monstrous force in the Octagon, having long been hailed as an inevitable champion just waiting to be coronated, regardless of who he faces at the top.
Yet while Thomas picked Strickland to beat du Plessis at UFC 312, he favors “DDP” to become the first man to hand Chimaev a professional MMA loss.
“I think Khamzat is a sprinter,” Thomas said. “I think if you were to make fights one five-minute round, Khamzat beats anybody in the world any weight class. But you can’t fight championship-level fights for five rounds with the pace where he’s at his best. If he fights like that at his best, I think Dricus is so durable and he’s so smart that he’ll be able to withstand that. Now they’re swimming in deep water, and Khamzat can’t swim that deep.
“I think that by the third round, Khamzat’s like, ‘Alright, I don’t really know. I can’t [do anything], this guy’s not going away.’ Also, let’s say Khamzat does pace himself a little better — Dricus will just pour it on. So I think pacing is a big factor. We always talk about this cardio thing. The cardio is really just being able to manage whatever pace you have based on the skill set you have. That’s really what it comes down to. If you have a very limited skill set, and you’re forced to be in situations you’re not comfortable in, you’re going to have bad cardio. When you have a very well-rounded skill set, and you can pace yourself better, you’re going to have good cardio. That’s really what it comes down to.”
