Surprising statistic reveals Sean Strickland broke divisional record in UFC 297 loss to Dricus du Plessis

Sean Strickland lost his middleweight title to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297 via a split decision. Despite the loss, 'Tarzan' set a divisional record at the pay-per-view.

Strickland broke the record for the most significant strikes landed in a middleweight championship bout at UFC 297, landing a whopping 173 blows on the South African challenger.

Per the UFC's official record book, the performance has also fetched Strickland the third spot for the total number of significant strikes landed in a middleweight bout.

While du Plessis wasn't far behind Strickland in terms of significant strikes at 137, the separating factor between the pair was likely the takedowns. 'Stillknocks' completed six takedowns, culminating in 2:08 minutes of total control time.

Despite two out of three judges giving du Plessis the nod, many in the fight community believe Strickland was robbed of a win at UFC 297. Most notably, during the post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White stated that he scored the fight three rounds to two in favor of the American.

Regardless of the controversy surrounding the fight, with the win at the pay-per-view, du Plessis became the first South African champion in UFC history. During his post-fight interview, 'Stillknocks' called out former middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya for his first title defense.

While Adesanya has been on the sidelines since his UFC 293 loss to Strickland, he has teased a UFC 300 comeback in a recent Instagram story.

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Sean Strickland on why he didn't dominate Dricus du Plessis

In a recent post on X, Sean Strickland hit back at the UFC 297 official decision. 'Tarzan' believes that he defeated Dricus du Plessis at the pay-per-view. Furthermore, the American feels that he would've completely dominated his opponent if not for a clash of heads, which resulted in a deep cut above his eye.

Following the loss, the American took to X to post a video of 'Stillknocks' landing a head-butt on him, claiming that it affected his vision for the remainder of the bout.

Watch Dricus du Plessis landing a head-butt on Sean Strickland below: