TORONTO – UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has continually stretched the imagination when it comes to insults hurled before, during, and after his fights. So his recent claims that UFC 297 opponent Dricus Du Plessis crossed lines were met with mixed responses.
The short answer is that Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) does not care if this makes him sound like a hypocrite, as Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and others claimed because he puts no weight into the court of public opinion. The longer answer he gave at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday, however, outlined the attributes of what Strickland considers to be fair play vs. off-limits.
“I just simply said that’s a line that I prefer we didn’t go there,” Strickland told MMA Junkie and other reporters. “And you guys, I sh*t on everybody. I make fun of your gay, little pirate earring. … I go hard, man. I made fun of Sean O’Malley’s wife getting f*cked by his buddy. I made fun of the cuck Ian Garry. The difference is, and I was just telling DC this, you went on a podcast and you joked about calling a homie to f*ck your wife. Like, I didn’t go make fun of anything you didn’t joke about. Like, this isn’t traumatic for you. You just said, ‘Hey, I wanted my buddy to f*ck my wife. I wanted to throw her some D.’ I’m not even hating on that.
