Dricus Du Plessis responds to Sean Strickland’s threat that he will stab him if he brings up childhood trauma

Dricus Du Plessis has responded to Sean Strickland’s threat.

Du Plessis and Strickland are set to headline UFC 297 on Saturday in Toronto for the middleweight title. It’s an intriguing matchup, and ahead of the fight, Strickland said he would stab Du Plessis if he brought any of his childhood trauma that he talked about on Theo Von’s podcast.

“I actually sent him a message and I was like, ‘Listen, Dricus. We’re going to go try and murder each other, but if you bring that shit up again, I will f*****g stab you,” Strickland said on his podcast about Dricus Du Plessis. “Press conference, weigh-in. He was cool about it, he was cool about it. But again, I’m not telling you I don’t want to fight you, Dricus. I’m not saying you’re not a good fighter. I’m just saying that that’s a line that, when crossed, transcends fighting. If I go to Canada and you bring that up, well, guess what? I’m going to jail, they’re going to deport me and we spend eight weeks of training for no f*****g reason.”

The comments caught many by surprise, and at UFC 297 media day on Wednesday, Dricus Du Plessis responded to the threat and said Sean Strickland wouldn’t get anywhere near him with a knife.

“I saw that, I don’t know, that’s pretty intense. I don’t know the legislation around here but that seems like Team Strickland needs to step in and check their boy,” Dricus Du Plessis said at UFC 297 media day. “When this whole thing occurred where he said ‘if you do that again’ he said he will kill me. He didn’t say stab me. When he said kill, I said okay you’re probably going to shoot me then. When I saw a knife, I’m like no, that’s not going to work. You won’t touch me with that knife. I’ll knock you out way before you get to stab me.”

Although Dricus Du Plessis doesn’t think Sean Strickland would get anywhere near him with a knife, the South African does admit he is worried of the champ doing something reckless which will cancel the fight.

“No, no. Am I scared that he self-sabotages this fight? Sure. That is something I’ve thought about. Maybe trying everything to get out of it but no, no, no, for me right now, the last press conference was winning on the mic. That was winning with Sean Strickland at his own game. Right now, this week where we’re at, I’m not here to do that. I’m here to be the middleweight champion of the world. My focus is on fighting and not making jokes. Getting the crowd to laugh, that’s not why I’m here. I’ve already won that battle. That battle is won. Right now, the battle that needs to be won is the one coming Saturday night and that’s where my mind’s at,” Du Plessis added.

But, if the UFC 297 headliner does come to fruition, Dricus Du Plessis is confident he will KO Sean Strickland and become the middleweight champ.