Dricus du Plessis put a full stop at the end of his rivalry with Sean Strickland as he dominated their rematch at UFC 312 in Sydney.
Middleweight champion Du Plessis had spent much of the build-up expressing his displeasure at the scoring of his split decision victory in their first meeting just over a year ago.
The South African claimed the title that night and, having defended successfully against Israel Adesanya in the interim, dispelled any doubts as to his superiority over Strickland with a clear if somewhat drab victory Down Under.
“This was a big proving point for me, (but) I don’t want to make it a habit of these decisions,” Du Plessis, the first ever South African to hold a UFC title, said.
“The game plan here was stay calm, because (my coach) said, ‘You know you can knock somebody out. We know you have that dog (in you). Try and stay calm'. Because It was really hard once I saw him grabbing at his nose.”
Du Plessis, who had handed Adesanya his first ever submission defeat last August, improved to 23-2. He is on a nine-fight win streak.
The first round saw Strickland (29-7) trying to establish his jab, while Du Plessis stayed aggressive with an array of kicks. Strickland continued to approach his attacks cautiously in the second round, attempting to pick his spots. Other than a strong right hand early in the round, it was Du Plessis who won the significant-strikes battle, 28-17.
The third session drew more boos than it did action through the first half of the round, until an overhand right, and later a spinning back fist by Du Plessis landed.
The fourth round saw the most action, with the champion breaking Strickland’s nose with a hard right punch and then applying non-stop pressure on his challenger. While the first three rounds were close, Du Plessis dominated the fourth.
Du Plessis continued to pepper Strickland’s nose in the final round, while staying on the attack to confirm the win. All three judges scored for Du Plessis (50-45, 50-45, 49-46). In his post-fight interview the champion declared himself top three in the promotion, and said it was his aim to become pound-for-pound number one.
In the co-main event, women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili (26-3-0) overcame a rough first round and controlled more than 21 minutes of her title defense against number one contender Tatiana Suarez (11-1-0) to earn a unanimous decision to retain her belt.
Zhang has won her past four title defenses, three by unanimous decision and the other by second-round submission.
Earlier in the night, heavyweight Tallison Teixeira (8-0-0) made his UFC debut by scoring a first-round TKO over Justin Tafa (7-5-0). That made it eight straight bouts Teixeira has ended in the first round, this one lasting just 35 seconds.
In an action-packed light heavyweight bout, Jim Crute (12-4-2) and Rodolfo Bellato (12-2-1) both turned in impressive performances. Crute dominated the first round, while Bellato was better in the second. A very close third left the judges turning in a majority draw.
In a three-round welterweight bout, Jake Matthews (21-7-0) defeated Francisco Prado (12-3-0) by unanimous decision.
