Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland are scheduled to clash in the main event of UFC 312 on Feb. 12 in Australia for the middleweight title. It will be a rematch of their UFC 297 bout, where ‘Stillknocks’ secured the belt via decision.
There are some fans who believe that Khamzat Chimaev should be fighting for the middleweight title instead of Sean Strickland. ‘Borz’ recently defeated Robert Whittaker in sensational fashion at UFC 308, submitting the former champion in round one. He handed ‘The Reaper’ the first submission loss of his UFC career, as well as a few broken teeth.
Despite calls for Chimaev to face Du Plessis, the promotion recently confirmed a middleweight title rematch as the UFC 312 headliner. Following the announcement, Sean Strickland’s head coach, Eric Nicksick, was interviewed on Submission Radio.
Nicksick was asked to pick between ‘Borz’ and ‘Stillknocks’ as a tougher matchup for Strickland, and he said:
“I mean, you would have to say [Dricus du Plessis] because he won, he beat us. Right now you have to say that [he’s the tougher matchup] because that’s the task at hand. I think Khamzat presents tons of different variables to his style that we’re gonna have to look at how to break down once that challenge presents itself. But right now, DDP is the toughest challenge for us.”