UFC News: Snubbed for Israel Adesanya, Sean Strickland Puts Dana White on Notice After Dricus Du Plessis’ UFC 305 Confirmation

After winning his UFC 290 against Robert Whittaker last year, Dricus Du Plessis would find himself awkwardly facing off then-middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who entered the cage during Du Plessis’ post-fight interview, and went on a bizarre, expletives and slur-ridden rant against ‘DDP’.

A few months later, he would face threats of getting stabbed by the new middleweight champion, Sean Strickland, against whom he would win a razor-thin split decision at UFC 297. With many, including Dana White saying they think ‘Tarzan’ won that fight, an immediate rematch was expected to be in order. However, this is not the case due to recent developments and Strickland has been constantly asking for a rematch.

Sean Strickland calls on the UFC to “do the right thing”

The UFC announced recently that Israel Adesanya will face middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 in the Australian metropolis of Perth in September this year. The two have been involved in a long-standing feud that started when Du Plessis promised to be the “first real African champion” and to actually “take the (UFC title) belt” to Africa since neither of the three African UFC champions, Adesanya, Francis Ngannou, and Kamaru Usman actually lived and trained in Africa.

‘Izzy’ took strong exception to these comments as he saw them as the South African challenging his African-ness. This climaxed in their UFC 291 post-fight face-off, and the two were expected to fight soon. And Du Plessis indeed, was offered a shot against the Kiwi-Nigerian at UFC 294, which he turned down due to a lingering injury.

Sean Strickland replaced him and went on to shock the UFC world and utterly dominate Adesanya for five rounds becoming the new champion until his fateful UFC 297 clash against Du Plessis. The two men went to war as they had promised during the contentious lead-up to their bout, with ‘Stillknocks’ emerging victorious by a hair’s breadth.

Sean Strickland (and the fans) have been calling for a rematch ever since, but the announcement of Du Plessis-Adesanya has dashed his hopes for a deserved immediate rematch. A frustrated ‘Tarzan’ took to Twitter to vent and called on the UFC “to do the right thing” and book the rematch.

“The UFC fans want me and Dricus to settle it. Dricus wants to settle it. We all know I fought in a dirty liberal country who fucked me. Dana knows it. The UFC knows it. IF IT WAS ANYONE ELSE ON THE ROSTER THE REMATCH WOULD HAPPEN! Do the right thing UFC.” he tweeted. This was followed by an even more ominous, and direct threat at the Dana White-led promotion.

‘Tarzan’ warns he may quit MMA altogether

This snub has really seemed to affect the former middleweight champion, who has threatened dire consequences over it. Sean Strickland replied to a fan and wrote that he would rather leave the sport and move to boxing rather than work his way up to another title shot.

“You know man I’m not climbing that fucking ladder again….. If that isn’t it for me idk  boxing…” Strickland wrote.

‘Tarzan’s frustration is understandable and, according to many fans, well-deserved. He was the champion going into UFC 297 and lost a difficult decision to the challenger, which even Dana White felt should have gone to him. If that doesn’t warrant an immediate rematch, it is difficult to imagine what will.

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