Dricus du Plessis isn’t giving any handouts during his title reign. Not to Sean Strickland, anyway.
The UFC middleweight title has been somewhat of a hot potato since Alex Pereira entered the promotion and threw the entire MMA access off-kilter. No one’s managed to defend the title since Pereira captured it in November 2022 against Israel Adesanya, who won it back and dropped it to Strickland before losing it to du Plessis at UFC 297 in January.