Strickland Recalls His Childhood Trauma And The Du Plessis Altercation

Sean Strickland recalled his altercation with Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 296. 

Strickland and Du Plessis are scheduled to fight at UFC 297 on January 20th, 2024. Both men attended Leon Edwards’ fight against Colby Covington in the second defence of his welterweight title. In the build-up, Du Plessis made some personal remarks about Strickland being abused by his father during his childhood. 

“You think your dad beat the s**t out of you? Your dad doesn’t have s**t on me … every childhood memory you have is going to come back when I’m in there with you,” Du Plessis

That rattled the UFC middleweight champion, who took it out on the South African at the UFC 296 event. Strickland walked through the crowd, approached Du Plessis and began punching him as well as biting him. Security removed Strickland from the arena, and now he has explained why he lost his cool. 

“You don’t about a kid being abused. These things are all off limits. Once he crossed that …. I tried to f*****g ignore it. I was boiling whenever Dricus (Du Plessis) goes on there and he jokes about that s**t. Dude, you have no idea. I’ll f*****g kill you,” Strickland stated 

Strickland also spoke about the specific incidents that troubled him during his childhood. This included staying in his mother’s room in fear that his father would kill her. Strickland also recalled calling the police on his father after an altercation between his dad and mother.  

“I’d sleep by the door because I thought my dad was going to kill my mom. My dad gets on top of my mom and I remember he said ‘I’m going to f*****g kill you tonight.’ Maybe it’s just rough sex, we don’t know at this moment. I’m under the bed and he starts strangling her. I get out and the only thing I can see is a guitar, I just f*****g crack him in the head and call the cops,” Strickland added

Strickland has come a long way since then. He secured one of the biggest upsets of 2023, beating Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision and and claiming UFC gold. That was his third win in a row. Before the three wins, Strickland lost back-to-back fights against Alex Pereira and Jared Cannonier. As he heads into the Du Plessis fight, Strickland is happy with how life has turned out. 

“I joke about all this s**t, as we’re laughing, you’ve got to joke about it. If you don’t, how do you process that kind of abuse? Life’s good, I make a lot of money now. I’m happy,” Strickland said

Reaction

Baddest dude out there rite now. He fights from a place only the Dagestanis can fathom. Darkness.

— RareCollector (@xRareCollector) January 3, 2024

For once I actually want to see a fighter fight emotional and win maybe he will do it

— Mac Donal (@LearningMyope) January 3, 2024

Sean's the goat

— Chicken vindaloo (@plague510) January 3, 2024