Barely a year has passed since Sean Strickland lost a heartbreaking split decision that cost him the UFC middleweight title during his first encounter with Dricus du Plessis.
Now they’re running it back in the UFC 312 main event as Strickland seeks a measure of revenge with hopes that he can reclaim the title. But what can Strickland do differently this time around to ensure he doesn’t lose on the judges’ scorecards?
UFC legend Matt Brown says that Strickland probably just needs to stick with what already works for him, although he admits he’s not sure that’s going to be an effectiv
e enough game plan going up against du Plessis for a second time.
“I think we can say he needs to do a lot of things but what he does works,” Brown said about Strickland on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “We’re not going to really tell him what he needs to do. If he can go out there and set his jab and keep Dricus guessing the whole time and he can stay safe the whole time, then it’s not a bad gig for him if he can go out and get a victory that way.
“Realistically what he needs to do is what he does well. He just has to do it well. I think that’s exactly it. If I was going to build a game plan for him it would be to get your jab out there, get it set, you’re going to have to sprawl when Dricus shoots in and you’re going to have to keep him long and avoid the big shots. He’s already good at doing that.”
The biggest problem that Brown identifies with Strickland using his pressure heavy, volume striking attack is that it’s not exactly evolved much since the first fight against du Plessis.
Actually, Brown believes that Strickland’s style has really stayed the same throughout his UFC career and he chalks that up to the way the former middleweight champion chooses to train with a real focus and dedication on sparring.
“The problem with the constant sparring, a lot of people talk about the brain damage and stuff like that. I don’t think that’s nearly as big of a deal as people make it out to be,” Brown explaind. “But you don’t evolve quite as much. You’re not compartmentalizing little skills and building on them.
“For instance, I’ve got a guy fighting pretty soon and today we literally only worked on his jab and stepping outside because he’s fighting a southpaw so getting his left foot outside of his [opponent]. So guys were sparring against him, kind of at 50 or 60 percent, and his only job was to throw a jab and get outside. You’re not throwing right hands, you’re not throwing kicks, so we’re compartmentalizing these little skills. So now when he goes and spars again, he’s going to have a much better jab hopefully, if what we did worked, he’s going to get outside better and all those other things are going to open up better. I don’t really see Strickland doing that because he’s just sparring all the time.”
There’s plenty of footage available to show just how much Strickland loves sparring his training partners and that definitely plays a big part in his preparation.
Brown definitely understands the benefits of sparring but he also knows through personal experience that particular practice can eventually become a detriment to a fighter. It’s his biggest concern when it comes to Strickland and his readiness for a second go round with du Plessis.
“The advantage is he gets his timing very well, he knows exactly what he’s looking for all the time, he knows himself very well as a fighter, he doesn’t get as nervous,” Brown said about Strickland’s passion for sparring. “There’s a lot of advantages. But you don’t evolve that way.
“You don’t evolve doing that. What happens, particularly when you’re going live a lot, you only use your top five or 10 techniques because you’re constantly worried about getting hit so you’re just using your best technique. If you’re going live wrestling, you’re just using your best shot all the time. That’s why you have to break them down and sometimes even go a little [with the flow] so you can get a little more creative. You have to break them down so you actually get better and build that confidence so that you can use that live.”
While Strickland seems to stick with what works best for him, Brown has seen improvements and some new wrinkles in du Plessis, especially watching him submit Israel Adesanya in his first title defense this past August.
The biggest criticism aimed at du Plessis is that he often looks sloppy or uneven with his offensive output but Brown argues that as long as it works for him then there’s no real need to make any drastic changes.
The same can’t be said for Strickland because Brown feels like he just hasn’t seen a ton of growth in the Las Vegas based fighter and that could come back to haunt him on Saturday at UFC 312.
“From my perspective, I feel like Dricus has improved some,” Brown said. “We may not necessarily see it, it’s not like his technique has necessarily improved or anything but he seems like he’s getting better. Like finishing [Israel Adesanya], things like that versus Sean Strickland is exactly the same.
“I don’t know if Sean Strickland works on getting better. I think he just spars. To me, it feels like Dricus is getting better coming into his own as a champion a little bit and Sean’s going to kind of do his thing like he always does. So I’m going to go with Dricus. [Sean Strickland is still] the same guy. It works very well for him and that’s great. I’m all about with my fighters and myself when I was fighting, just maximizing everything. I just don’t think he’s maximizing himself.”
