For all his outrageousness, for all his crazy talk, there is one truth that has become clear over the last few months and was crystallized on Saturday at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto in the main event of UFC 297: Sean Strickland is a great fighter.
He has been great his last few outings and he was great again on Saturday. Being great wasn't enough on this night, because Dricus Du Plessis was equally brilliant. The South African matched the reigning champion punch-for-punch on Saturday, halted Strickland's forward attack and pulled out a taunt split decision.
Derek Cleary and Eric Colon had Du Plessis, 48-47, while Sal D'Amato had Strickland, 48-47. KevinIole.com had it 48-47 for Du Plessis, as well. Du Plessis, who became the UFC's first South African champion, won the belt by sweeping Rounds 2, 3 and 4 on the cards of Cleary and Colon.
"I could feel it was a close fight," Du Plessis said.
The promotion was marked by nasty exchanges between them, beginning in December at a news conference at UFC 296 in Las Vegas, and it continued through the weigh-in. They got in a brawl in the stands during UFC 296 and Strickland at one point threatened to stab Du Plessis if Du Plessis brought up his past again.
But what happened was that the men competed at a high level from beginning to end and put on a classic fight. It was a bout worthy of a championship in a division where legends like Anderson Silva and Israel Adesanya once held the belt. Each sustained a lot of damage. Strickland had a small cut outside his right eye and a bigger one that bled a lot over the final 10 minutes by his left.
Strickland's sledgehammer jab had swelled Du Plessis' left eye badly and it was all but closed by the middle of the third round.
Strickland's modus operandi is to touch his opponents and not necessarily throw the house at them in the early stages, but build as the fight goes on and increase the pressure down the stretch. But on Saturday, he was forced to back up quite a bit due to du Plessis' pressure and varied attack.
According to UFC Stats, Strickland had a comfortable edge in significant strikes landed, connecting on 173 of 408, while Du Plessis hit on 137 of 354. But Du Plessis also landed six of 11 takedowns, while Strickland didn't attempt one. It was a stunner to see Strickland go down so much, and Du Plessis credited his strength for that.
"He gets up really well, but I could get under him and get him down because I'm stronger," said Du Plessis, who called Adesanya out after the fight.
Strickland was gracious in defeat. He was the crowd favorite and they roared their approval whenever he did something, and they chanted his name frequently early in the fight.
For all of his zaniness, though, Strickland has developed into a high-level fighter and he proved that again.
"From Day f*cking One, I said this was going to be a war," Strickland said. "Hats off to the new champ. God damn, it was a f*cking war. I'm salty right now, but maybe I'm being a f*cking pussy."