Dricus du Plessis is all geared up for his highly anticipated rematch with Sean Strickland at UFC 312, but he’s getting attention for more than just his fight preparations. The UFC middleweight champion recently showed his support for Donald Trump by wearing a special pro-Trump t-shirt on media day, which caught everyone by surprise. But why did he do so?

The South African fighter sported a shirt that read “Trump Prefers Champions” and did not hold back in his praise, calling Trump an “amazing president” and celebrating his potential return to office. He wore it during media day to bring light to the “positive changes” brought by the billionaire.

He said, “Well yeah, I mean, with, you know, after obviously Trump being reelected, which is absolutely incredible. I think he’s an amazing, amazing president, and I’ve had the privilege of meeting him. He said this, you know, with everything going on right now and changes coming, good changes. He’s holding people accountable, a lot of people, a lot of countries accountable for everything, and it’s amazing to see.”

But that’s not all; ‘Stillknocks’ also gave a shoutout to Elon Musk, another high-profile figure from South Africa who has become the right-hand man for the president. The reigning middleweight champion credited Musk for “doing the right thing” and appeared to align both men with his philosophy of promoting strong leadership. According to a report on The Washington Post, Musk donated as much as $288 million to Trump’s campaign. Du Plessis said, “Big shout out to fellow South African Elon Musk for also doing the right thing. And, like you said, Trump are first champions.” But while Dricus Du Plessis is all praise for the American leader, Sean Strickland has raised issues about Khamzat Chimaev for being close to Chechen totalitarian Ramzan Kadyrov.

Sean Strickland leaves Dricus Du Plessis to bury Khamzat Chimaev

Sean Stickland hopes to settle his affairs with Dricus du Plessis this Saturday in the main event of UFC 312. But the former champion is not losing track of Khamzat Chimaev. During the pay-per-view media day, the ever-so-blunt Strickland attacked ‘Borz’ for his friendship with Chechen totalitarian Ramzan Kadyrov.

He said, “Chimaev fled Chechnya with his family because of an oppressive warlord that k**led people indiscriminately. No hate on him; it’s your country. He goes back to Chechnya, and he goes back to Chechnya because somebody wants to buy him a G-Wagon, and he’s like, ‘Oh yeah! I’ll be that wh**e.” Strickland further added, ‘And then what happens? The leash gets way too tight.'”

It is precisely because of this well-documented link with Kadyrov that Chimaev would have moved, and even acquired citizenship, to the United Arab Emirates, where he has fought his last two fights due to his visa problems in the United States. ‘Borz,’ who briefly trained with Strickland at Xtreme Couture, moved into title contention with a first-round submission over Robert Whittaker in the co-main event of UFC 308. If Sean Strickland topples ‘DDP,’ will his first title defense be against Chimaev? Let us know in the comments.