“Francis Will Listen” – Sean Strickland’s Camp Gives Clarity on Bold Claims About Dricus Du Plessis UFC 312 Fight

A lot of fans had to experience disappointment at UFC Fight Night 250, after a heartbreaking loss for Israel Adesanya. But just a week later, the same fans will get to witness the two men, who started this 3-fight losing skid for ‘Izzy’, throw down and that clash has its own story. For the second time in their careers, middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis and former champ Sean Strickland will meet at UFC 312. Their first bout at UFC 297 was neck-to-neck and ‘Stillknocks’ won a razor-thin split decision. What can Sean Strickland do different, this time around? His efforts to lull ‘DDP’ into a stand-up battle don’t seem to be panning out.

Well, many argue that Strickland’s request to ‘DDP’ is a cop-out and that he might actually be the one to actually initiate the wrestling sequence to off-set the champion. Xtreme Couture head coach Erik Nicksick was asked by Mike Heck of MMA Fighting on SBN, “Let me ask you, true or false – Sean Strickland shoots a takedown in this fight”. The question was a follow up to Nicksick’s experience coaching Francis Ngannou during his PFL debut against Renan Ferreira, where the Cameroonian stuck to the gameplan and listened to his corner, ultimately winning via a takedown and ground-and-pound in the first round.

It seems the Xtreme Couture head coach isn’t as confident with Strickland’s compliance as he is with Ngannou’s. With an exasperated sigh, Erik Nicksick said, “I want to say, true. Maybe. I don’t know. The difference is like, Francis [Ngannou] – Francis will listen, you know? Like with Sean like, I don’t know like. Half the time, is he even paying attention? So, I just go because I have the best seat in the house, you know?”

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via Imago

Whether Sean Strickland shoots for a takedown or not, you can expect some wrestling and grappling exchanges being initiated by Dricus Du Plessis. Regardless of whether this fight happens on the feet or otherwise, it’s a guaranteed banger considering the history between the two. While opinions are split down the middle, we’ve turned to the recent trend of asking AI for the winners of UFC events, and it was no different for the upcoming UFC 312 main event. Let’s take a closer look.

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AI predicts Strickland vs Du Plessis 2So who wins it? Will it be Sean Strickland with his ‘stand-and-bang’ approach, or will it be DDP, with his awkward yet effective ‘blitzkrieg’ style? According to AI, ‘Tarzan’ will take a more forward, yet cautious approach; “In the rematch, Strickland will likely be more aggressive, using his jab to maintain range and avoid Du Plessis’ power shots.” Defensively, Strickland is on-point and especially displayed this when he was able to thwart Israel Adesanya’s offense before taking the middleweight title from him.

Remember when Strickland shot a request for no takedowns – only stand and bang? Well, AI has predicted that Du Plessis’ key to victory might lay in the grappling itself. He may not win the fight with his wrestling or grappling approach, but it might give him enough leverage to find the kill shot. “If Du Plessis mixes in grappling early, he could wear Strickland down and create openings for big shots.”, was the assessment by ChatGPT.

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‘Tarzan’ does have a 77% takedown defense accuracy, however, ‘Stillknocks’ landed five out out of nine attempted takedowns, with 4:34 minutes of ground control time in their first fight. The grappling was the key element to Du Plessis’ claim to the title at UFC 297. However, in the rematch, AI predicts that Strickland will have better pacing than DDP, which will perhaps be the key to his victory this time around.

What do you think? Do you agree with AI’s prediction of the UFC 312 main event? Let us know in the comments down below.