Dricus Du Plessis gives advice to Sean Strickland’s next move

Dricus Du Plessis thinks he has a good idea what the UFC will do with Sean Strickland after he fell short in their rematch.

Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) failed to recapture the middleweight title from Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) on Saturday with a unanimous decision loss in the UFC 312 main event. The result pushes him far away from the title picture, and that means matchmaking gets trickier.

Du Plessis thinks the next move for Strickland is a no-brainer, and it has to be a rematch with fellow former champ Israel Adesanya, who also had his place as a contender diminished with a second-round knockout loss to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Fight Night 250.

“I know what’s going to happen next,” Du Plessis told reporters post-fight at UFC 312. “I can almost guarantee you what’s happening next: Is there any bets that he’s fighting Adesanya next? I just thought of that. … I think the Adesanya rematch will be amazing. That’s what’s going to happen. It’s going to be a Fight Night main event. I know it.”

Strickland defeated Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) by unanimous decision in his lone UFC title victory at UFC 293 in September 2023. He went on to drop the strap to Du Plessis in his first defense, and Du Plessis submitted Adesanya in August to kick off his title reign in a positive manner before beating Strickland again in the rematch.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.