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UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has claimed that he did not want to fight at UFC 297.
Strickland shook up the world by defeating Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in September this year to win the middleweight championship. While an immediate rematch was proposed by the UFC CEO Dana White, 'The Last Stylebender' revealed that he is going to take a hiatus from fighting,
Since then, there has been constant speculation regarding Sean Strickland's next fight, which was recently confirmed by Dana White, 'Tarzan' is set to take on Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297 in Toronto, Canada, on January 20, 2024.
Strickland took to Instagram to speak about the same and hilariously suggested that he did not want to fight in Canada. While claiming that he was asked to "help a couple of ladies," the UFC middleweight champion said:
"Well Canada time to bring you all some freedom. Didn't want to fight in Jan or in Canada but was asked to help a couple ladies do their job.. and they call me sexist.."
Take a look at his post below:
Michael Bisping calls Dricus du Plessis the "rightful No.1 contender" ahead of his fight against Sean Strickland at UFC 297
The MMA community has had a lot to say about the Du Plessis vs. Strickland fight announcement. While many believe it is a good matchup, others are left disappointed since Khamzat Chimaev seemed to be next in line to get a title shot after beating Kamaru Usman at UFC 294.
However, former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping feels that Dricus du Plessis is the "rightful No.1 contender". In a recently posted video on his YouTube channel, Bisping spoke about how the South African is deserving of a title shot after beating Robert Whittaker earlier this year. He said:
"He is the rightful No.1 contender.....he went out there and he beat Robert Whittaker in sensational and stunning fashion. Shocked the entire world, nobody expected him to beat Robert Whittaker, nobody expected him to stop him in the second round and as we know, if you beat the man, you become the man and that's exactly what Sean Strickland did, he beat longtime champion Israel Adesanya."
Catch hBisping's comments in the video below (1:26):
