Photo | Sean Strickland looks to be in phenomenal shape ahead of UFC 297

Sean Strickland looks to be in phenomenal shape ahead of his first attempted title defense at next month’s UFC 297 event.

It will be Sean Strickland (28-5 MMA) versus Dricus Du Plessis (20-2 MMA) in a middleweight title fight next month, on Saturday, January 20th at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The 32-year-old Strickland fought 3 times during 2023 and was victorious in all. First, ‘Tarzan’ defeated Nassourdine Imavov (12-4 MMA) via unanimous decision in January. July saw Strickland defeat Abusupiyan Magomedov (25-6 MMA) via TKO at 4:20 of Round 2. It was then in September at UFC 293 that Strickland defeated Israel Adesanya (24-3 MMA) by unanimous decision to claim the middleweight title as his own. All to say it was quite the impressive year for Strickland.

The focus now becomes 2024 and Sean Strickland, as seen in a group picture at an ‘XTreme Couture’ training session, looks to be in the best shape of his career.

The best shape I’ve ever seen Sean Strickland in.

Dricus Du Poopis is so, so fucked. pic.twitter.com/ffGNz9CNP9

— Homelander MMA (@HomelanderMMA) December 24, 2023

As for Du Plessis, 29, he’ll be coming into UFC 297 boasting 8 consecutive wins in the cage, his most recent TKO victory coming against Robert Whittaker (24-7 MMA) this past July at UFC 290. ‘Stillknocks’, since joining the UFC in 2020, has gone undefeated.

The South African believes he’s already in the head of Sean Strickland following their crowd brawl at UFC 296:

“I’m 5-0 in the T-Mobile Arena and tonight it officially became 6-0. It’s probably not a good example, but here we are, things happen… The fact that he’s triggered, I don’t give a damn about that.”

Continuing Dricus Du Plessis said:

“Right now, he needs to get calm in his head. He needs to gain his composure. I know I’m not the champ yet, so I shouldn’t be really giving the champ advice. But, that would be my advice. Gather your composure, be calm. You make mistakes when you’re not calm. I’m cool as a cucumber… The fact that he’s triggered only plays to my advantage. I can’t believe how easy it was to mentally trigger him.”

Are you looking forward to the main event title fight between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297?

Do you believe Du Plessis can de-throne Strickland?

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