Dricus du Plessis explains why he won't make any more comments about Sean Strickland's past

Dricus du Plessis is set to challenge Sean Strickland for the middleweight title at UFC 297 this weekend. There's bad blood between the two after 'Stillknocks' made comments about the champion's childhood and upbringing at the UFC 2024 season press conference. The No.2-ranked middleweight recently revealed that he does not plan to target his upcoming opponent's past any further.

Speaking to Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie, du Plessis stated:

"He cried on the world stage. I'm glad he got it out. I hope it's over now. There's not going to be one-ups. There's no one-ups. What's going to happen is going to happen. We'll see how it plays out, but right now my focus is on the fight. I'm not here to be funny. I'm not here to try and create something that there's not. I'm here to be a professional. I'm here to be the next champion of the world. That's why I'm here."

The South African continued:

"I'm not here to try to one-up or get even further. I'm going to do what I'm going to do and he's going to do what he's going to do, but right now, it's almost senseless to try to create more hype. The hype's been created. That took care of itself. Right now, for me, this is business. The whole fight week is business. Everything I handle, I'll handle it like business and Saturday night will be signing on the dotted line, closing the deal."

Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments on Sean Strickland below:

Dricus du Plessis added that while he is respectful to those who are respectful to him, he is always open to banter. He previously called out Strickland for what he labeled as hypocrisy following the remarks he made about the middleweight champion's upbringing.

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Sean Strickland threatens to stab Dricus du Plessis

While Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis are set to clash for the middleweight title at UFC 297 this weekend, the former recently revealed that the bout will not happen if his opponent references his past again. Speaking to Chris Curtis on their podcast, The Man Dance, the middleweight champion stated:

"I actually sent him a f**king message and I was like, 'Dude, listen, Dricus, we're going to go try to murder each other, but if you bring that s**t up again, I will f**king stab you. Press conference, weigh in'... That's a line that when crossed, it transcends fighting to like, if I go to Canada and you bring that up, well guess what, I'm going to go to jail, they're going to deport me and we spent eight weeks of training for no f**king reason."

Check out Sean Strickland's comments on stabbing Dricus du Plessis below:

Strickland previously revealed that he suffered abuse at the hands of his father as a child. His upcoming challenger used that information as a tool to attack him at the UFC 2024 season press conference.