Du Plessis shrugs off Strickland's trash talk
UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis maintains he will be unaffected by anything Sean Strickland says in the lead-up to their rematch this weekend.
The two face off in the octagon at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia on Saturday night.
The outspoken Strickland has taunted Du Plessis on social media by insulting the state of his native South Africa as well as pointing out the country's high levels of crime and wealth inequality.
"Strickland says a lot of things about a lot of things but he doesn't know anything," Du Plessis, 31, told BBC Sport Africa.
"It doesn't make a difference to me."
Du Plessis became South Africa's first UFC champion when he beat Strickland via a split decision at UFC 297 in January last year.
He defended his title against Nigeria-born Israel Adesanya, in what was dubbed the 'Battle for Africa', in August.
But, before his meeting with Strickland at Qudos Bank Arena, Du Plessis confirmed the tension between himself and the American is genuine.
"I'm not somebody that is going to make up fake beef to try and sell a fight," he said.
"If you treat me with respect, I will treat you with respect. Sean Strickland sells fights through the way he speaks.
"But if you're going to try and bully me on a mic, I will make sure you know what it feels like to be bullied."
Strickland has angered Australian media with a series of inflammatory comments before the fight.
However, Du Plessis, who is from Welkom in Free State, has respect for his opponent.
"It's not that I have any hate towards him. Emotions are high. There's no place to be friendly right now," he continued.
"We are competitors. We can be respectful if he wants to be and if not, I can also be disrespectful. I have respect for Strickland but he is not my friend."
Du Plessis needs to be 'perfect' on fight night
In their first meeting in Toronto at UFC 297, Strickland had success with his jab in the early rounds and landed more strikes than Du Plessis, but the South African cut Strickland's eye in the fourth.
Strickland finished strongly and the fight went to the judges' scorecards, where Du Plessis triumphed 48-47, 48-47, 47-48.
The South African has studied footage of that meeting and modified his strategy as he looks to secure a ninth straight victory in UFC.
"There's a lot of familiarities, but obviously we saw the mistakes we made and we made the adjustments," he said.
"We saw areas where we are better than him and where we can do even better, and he saw the same with us.
"So we had to fix every mistake because now they know those mistakes, so they are going to try to exploit that.
"With this fight camp, what we worked on is everything that I did to do it better, quicker and more precise, more accurate.
"I can't make small mistakes. The margin for error will be even smaller, so I need to be perfect on fight night."
Extra effort to stay at the top
By becoming his country's first UFC champion, Du Plessis has become one of the most recognisable and prominent sports figures in South Africa.
He has been viewed as a symbol of national pride given he opted to remain based in his homeland despite the fact it remains a developing territory in MMA.
Yet Du Plessis has become a polarising figure for some of his world views, including a show of support for United States President Donald Trump before his fight against Strickland.
Meanwhile, Du Plessis retains a hunger to remain at the top of his profession and is aware he has to set standards for others to follow.
"Ever since becoming world champion, I've had to prove that I'm the world champion to everybody that trains around me and work harder than every single person because I have to be the example of what it takes to be the best in the world," he said.
"The sacrifices needed to be made to be the best in the world [have] been tremendous, and it hasn't changed. To get to the top is one thing, to stay at the top is the exact same thing.
"You have to put in all that work. I've been loving every single moment of it."
