"That's illegal fighting" - Chael Sonnen disapproves of the UFC 296 brawl between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland clashed with No. 2-ranked contender Dricus du Plessis on the sidelines of UFC 296.

The two were engaged in a war of words in the lead-up to the closing pay-per-view of the year. They are slated to take on each other in the main event of the next pay-per-view, UFC 297. Strickland unloaded on Du Plessis and both were escorted out of the arena by security.

Former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen discussed the incident on The MMA Hour and criticized it. He responded to whether the fighters should face repercussions.

“You know, probably. I mean, probably to a degree. It’s not as though there weren’t repercussions. Strickland got thrown out, that’s how security handles these things. There always becomes a question, Ariel, of what level of authority needs to do it? They don’t want to go into police… If you have security or you have the police, I mean the police have the right to arrest them if they wanted to.

"You had security that stepped in, the way they chose to handle was to remove one from the facility and tell him he’d be trespassing if he came back. It’s not as though that wasn’t dealt with."

Chael Sonnen continued by disapproving of the brawl outside the octagon:

"But no, I don’t like that stuff. I’m not a prude about it but that isn’t a fight promotion, that’s fighting. That isn’t sanctioned fighting. That’s illegal fighting. I don’t like when the punches get thrown, you got to be able to have these things, these back and forth and you gotta have a level of honor. No, I didn’t like that. You can’t let them get close."

Check out his full comments below (17:25):

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Israel Adesanya reacts to Sean Strickland's scrap with Dricus du Plessis

Former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya also weighed in on the ringside brawl between Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis.

Adesanya spoke on his YouTube channel about the UFC 296 card and joked about Sean Strickland not being racist, at least. He also thinks that the middleweight division is being represented in the wrong way.

However, 'Izzy' admitted to enjoying the drama and said:

"At least he didn't call him a n*gga. So, you know? Fully respectable champions and title challengers, it's what they did you know, 'Oh Israel is so embarrassing as a champion'...but then this is what they do, they sucker punch them. He actually did, he jumped over the chair, sucker punched him and they had a little scrap. But I like it, I like a sh*t show."

Catch Adesanya's comments in the video below (11:33):