Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis retained the 185-pound title at UFC 312 last weekend, defeating former titleholder Sean Strickland in a largely one-sided decision.
When the two first fought at UFC 297, the fight ended in a split decision after a spirited five rounds of fighting. The rematch wasn’t that close and legendary boxing trainer Teddy Atlas give his analysis on how Du Plessis was able to shut down Strickland in the second fight.
“I think there’s a reason why it (the decision) was wider,” Atlas said on THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas podcast. “The old-timers, Cus D’Amato, they always told me that winning a title makes you 30% better because 75% is the mind part. It makes the mind stronger. It makes it better. It makes it more confident. It lets you know things you didn’t know before you won a title; that you can depend on yourself in waters, in areas that you didn’t know you could. I think that showed. Du Plessis was better.”
According to Atlas, part of the reason Strickland struggled against Du Plessis in the rematch was his fighting style.
“He’s (Strickland) got a tremendous jab. He lives and dies by the sword. And sometimes you live and die by the sword, in this case was the jab, and that sword is not there for you, you die on that sword,” Atlas said.
“Strickland’s strength is his weakness. His strength is to be cold, calculating. He doesn’t waste anything. He’s definitive. He’s a surgeon. He’s conservative. He doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t get overanxious. He doesn’t help you by getting overanxious by doing something that gives you opportunities to capitalize on,” Atlas continued.
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“That’s also what hurt him in these last two fights (with Du Plessis) is that he is so conservative. He doesn’t waste anything. He doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t take chances to make those mistakes in those kind of ways. So, you can out hustle him sometimes. You can sometimes outwork him. He leaves an opportunity to be out hustled, just outworked a little bit… There are guys that are going to match that, or come close to it and also do a little more of it. Be a little busier and go outside that realm and be more creative. That’s Du Plessis.”
“He (Du Plessis) really is the example of why you hear that saying, ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover’ because you look at him and you say, ‘What’s he doing?’ He’s big. He’s strong. I get it, but ‘what’s he doing? I don’t see it.’ Well, the opponent sees it. The opponent feels it. He’s better than he looks.”
