White felt that Strickland should have been scored as the winner.
Photos: Vaughn Ridley/AFP
UFC boss gives shocking verdict on Dricus Du Plessis win [WATCH]
UFC boss Dana White disputed the judges scoring in Dricus Du Plessis’ split decision victory over Sean Strickland.
White felt that Strickland should have been scored as the winner.
Photos: Vaughn Ridley/AFP
UFC boss Dana White disagreed with how the judges scored Dricus Du Plessis’ split decision victory over Sean Strickland.
Du Plessis took the UFC Middleweight title after edging Strickland on two of the three judges scorecards.
However UFC CEO White felt that Strickland should have been scored as the winner.
UFC boss gives his verdict
Dricus du Plessis takes it
The fight began with Strickland standing tall and probing Du Plessis with his jabs.
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Du Plessis didn’t allow Strickland to go forward even if he had to absorb a significant amount of damage.
In the early going Strickland was checking Du Plessis’ low-kicks with only his body kicks really landing.
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Du Plessis shot for the takedown towards the end of the first round and took Strickland down although he took just 19 seconds to get to his feet.
In the second round there were more takedowns from Du Plessis and as the fight wore one it appeared that the fight was narrowing with the South African landing more shots.
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Du Plessis had never been beyond the third round in any previous fights but in the fourth round he started to land shots and he opened Strickland up above his right eye.
Strickland stuck to his gameplan and got some purchase with consistent jabs but Du Plessis kept at him with a varied offence. In the first four rounds Du Plessis nailed six of the nine takedowns he attempted and he showed his wrestling.
By the fifth round the parochial crowd had warmed to Du Plessis and even started up a DDP chant.
Du Plessis made it awkward for Strickland to hit him with most of his shots that landed were probing jabs to the head of Du Plessis.
Tight finish
By the fifth round it was clear that this title fight was a technical masterclass and they went the full 25 minutes.
Strickland seemed to edge the fifth round but it would all come down to the judges scorecards.
The experts had trouble calling which way the fight went prior to the judges handing in their scorecard.
