Dricus Du Plessis: If Alex Pereira can knock Sean Strickland out, 'I can knock him out even better'

Dricus Du Plessis is confident he can top Alex Pereira’s finish of Sean Strickland.

Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) challenges Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) for his middleweight title in the UFC 297 headliner Jan. 20 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Strickland fell victim to current UFC light heavyweight champion Pereira’s signature left hook in July 2022, and Du Plessis will be hunting for his chin – even though he knows it will be tricky.

“His defense is ugly,” Du Plessis told Submission Radio. “His defense is very weird, but it’s effective. I think he deflects shots beautifully, and I think irritating is a good style. He’s just always pushing something out there and it’s such a different style. I don’t think he has that crazy knockout power, but he does have quantities. I promise you, you are going to lose that fight if you’re going to fight his pace – and Israel Adesanya fought his pace – because he walks forward, he makes people tentative sometimes, because he’s slipping punches all the time.

“I don’t think to fight his pace is a smart move. I know I’m more athletic, I’m stronger physically, and (I’ll be) using that to my advantage – making sure I hit harder, but making sure that every shot I throw lands, making sure I land those punches and I’m not just standing there in the pocket throwing with him, because that’s his fight style. That’s his style. (I need to be) making sure that I’m fighting a smart fight and that whatever I throw – I need one shot. I need to land one shot. If Pereira can knock him out, I can knock him out even better.”

Strickland stunned the masses when he put on a clinic on Israel Adesanya to claim the middleweight title at UFC 293. But Du Plessis plans on imposing his will on Strickland.

“Sean Strickland did what Sean Strickland does against Israel and it works for him,” Du Plessis said. “And that’s great. Styles do make fights, so it works for him. But I have my style of fighting. He has his style of fighting. And in our fight, it’s going to be the guy who imposes his will and fights his fight the best. That’s going to be the winner, and that’s going to be me.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.