Dricus Du Plessis settled his rivalry with Sean Strickland on Saturday night at UFC 312, scoring a comprehensive unanimous decision win.
The pair first clashed at UFC 297 last January in what has been remembered as a completely unexciting fight, despite their pre-fight antics.
Although their first meeting was relatively unforgettable, Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland promised a more exciting affair this time around and continued their war of words in the pre-fight press conference.
Du Plessis went on to retain his title in extremely dominant fashion, cementing himself as the middleweight champion and putting a stamp on their rivalry.
Dricus Du Plessis reveals what he told Sean Strickland backstage after main event
In the fourth round of their scrap, ‘Stillknocks’ landed a huge right hand directly on the nose of Strickland which resulted in a break and a lot of leaked blood.
Although the pair shared a lot of hatred for each other in the lead-up to both fights, they embraced following the final horn and even crossed paths backstage.
Usually, that would be a cause for concern for the promotion, however, they remained respectful after sharing 10 rounds in the Octagon together and the South African has revealed what he told the 33-year-old.
“I told him that he was ugly before obviously when we fought because he’s not a pretty person but when I saw him after that when I hit him in the nose I said, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you got uglier’ and he did, I was like, ‘Your nose is so screwed up now’,” Du Plessis said in the post-fight presser.
“He tried to break his nose back in the middle of the fight and for some weird reason, I was giving him the opportunity I was like, okay, let him get his nose (back in place) and then I was like, no, punch this guy in the face while he’s trying to do this,” he continued.