Sean
Strickland’s head coach believes dictating the pace will be key
to a successful title defense against Dricus Du
Plessis.
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The
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champ will put his
strap on the line in the main event at UFC 297 next month in
Toronto.
Nicksick, Strickland’s head coach at Xtreme Couture, recently laid
out the champ’s roadmap to victory against the South African
standout. Nicksick expects “Stillknocks” (20-2) to come out guns
blazing in the initial rounds, where he believes it’ll be crucial
for Strickland (28-5) to establish control. While Nicksick expects
an exciting scrap, he claims Strickland will take over as the fight
progresses. Nicksick recently told Inside Fighting:
“I think it’s going to be a matter of setting a precedent on the
pace. I feel like Dricus is going to come out hard, heavy and fast
right away, and we’re going to have to manage that pace in the
first couple of rounds. Once Sean gets into the fight, I think
that’s when Sean’s really going to be able to take over. I expect
it to be a barnburner. Both of these guys are right where they
belong.”
“I was always told by Randy [Couture] and something I always look
at is the hardest fight of your career is your first title defense.
It’s going to be up to us to make sure we’re on our Ps and Qs and
go out there and defend this belt.”
While Du Plessis earned a title shot against Israel
Adesanya by knocking out Robert
Whittaker at UFC 290, he had to pull out at the last minute due
to a foot injury. Strickland stepped up on short notice against
Adesanya at UFC 293 in September and went on to dominate “The Last
Stylebender” in a major upset.
UFC 297 takes place on Jan. 20 at ScotiaBank Arena in Toronto and
will mark the UFC’s first trip to Canada in over four years. The
card is currently set to be headlined by Strickland and Du Plessis,
with Raquel
Pennington and Mayra
Bueno Silva scheduled to fight for the vacant women’s
bantamweight title in the co-main event.