UFC 312, The Morning After: Stagnant Sean Jabs His Way To Embarrassing Defeat

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Just one year ago, Sean Strickland very nearly defeated Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297.

Their first fight was about as close as it gets, the victory hinging on a couple rounds in which neither man was able to land all that cleanly. The story of those rounds, however, was du Plessis as the man pushing the action and trying to land. The judges were swayed by his activity, effort, and aggression.

Strickland immediately declared himself robbed. For a man who claimed not to care about fancy fighting belts, he wasted little time demanding a rematch. Again, it’s been 12 full months and a couple weeks since UFC 297. He’s had plenty of time to learn lessons from his first loss to du Plessis. He works with one of the best teams and coaches in the world. Surely, Strickland would come to this rematch prepared with a better strategy, able to implement new tactics thanks to his previous 25 minutes of experience with “Stillknocks.”

He definitely wouldn’t waste a gifted title shot, right?

UFC 312 was a genuinely embarrassing performance from Sean Strickland. He brought nothing new to the table, just the same jab, teep, and reset strategy that he employed last time. Unsurprisingly, it did not work more effectively the second time around. Strickland’s coaches spent every single opportunity telling him to shift into a higher gear, throw more combinations, do more than jab. It was all great advice, perhaps even advice that could have won him a title.

Strickland walked away from them in frustration.

du Plessis, on the other hand, is an excellent foil to Strickland precisely because he throws so much variety and does adapt. His form may be uglier than Strickland’s piston jab, but he’s a vastly more intelligent fighter. His adjustments compared to the first fight were already substantial, but they’re downright monumental when contrasted with Strickland’s paint-by-numbers approach.

Case in point: most everyone thought du Plessis’ wrestling was the key to victory here, because takedowns helped sway the judges in the first fight. Having dealt with him once, however, du Plessis and his team understood that Strickland is very tough to hold down. They understood takedowns are an energy vacuum. Team “DDP” gambled that same energy would be better spent booting Strickland in the calf, liver, and forearms until every movement the boxer made came off a bit slower, a little more strained.

It worked brilliantly! du Plessis stayed ahead of Strickland in regards to points — an important thing to consider against a defensively savvy veteran — and helped the South African land his power punches as follow up attacks. du Plessis drowned his foe with kicks, never wrestling for more than a handful of seconds in 25 minutes.

It was both a major adjustment and major gamble — Strickland couldn’t do either.

Strickland didn’t give himself a chance. Why would his same approach work this time around against a better-prepared opponent? He surely spent an entire training camp working on exactly what his coaches called for, yet under the bright lights, he was utterly unable to adjust.

In another world, maybe this article would be about Strickland’s toughness and grit, his ability to reset his own nose and still stand tall opposite a surging berserker. He’s still just one of two men “DDP” has failed to finish, after all. That world is one where Strickland has built up some measure of good will, however, rather than talk unbelievable amounts of s—t while promising a fight to the death only to underdeliver on action, time and time again.

Instead of simply being a tough loss to a damn good champion, it’s now an embarrassing low point that kicks him way back to the end of the Middleweight line. That’s what happens when you talk your way into a title shot, don’t make a single adjustment, then get your nose shattered in a shutout defeat.

It should’ve been Khamzat.

For complete UFC 312 results and play-by-play, click here.

This news first appeared on MMA Mania. Read the original article.