Dricus du Plessis did not like the way in which his first meeting with Sean Strickland ended with a decision divided a little over a year ago, so he made sure that there was no doubt Sunday at UFC 312 in Sydney.
In a rather dull revenge match, from Plessis has retained its average weight belt with a dominant unanimous decision on a bloody Strickland.
“It was a big pro -provance point for me, (but) I don’t want to make a habit of these decisions,” said Plessis. “The match plan here was to stay calm because (my coach) said,” You know you can knock someone. We know you have this dog (in you). Try to stay calm. Because it was really difficult once I saw him grab his nose. »»
It was the second defense title for the 31-year-old Plessis (23-2) after defeating Israel Adesanya with a fourth round submission on August 17 in Perth, Australia.
The first round saw Strickland (29-7) try to establish his blow, while Plessis remained aggressive with a range of kicks.
Strickland continued to approach his attacks cautiously in the second round, trying to choose his places. Apart from a strong right hand at the start of the round, it was Plessis which won the battle of important strikes, 28-17.
The third drew more hoots than from the action during the first half of the round, until a right on the right, and later a fist of the Plessis returned.
The fourth lap has seen the most action, the champion breaking the Nose of Strickland with a hard punch, then applying a non -stop pressure on his challenger. While the first three laps were extremely close, from Plessis dominated the fourth.
Du Plessis continued to pepper the Nose of Strickland in the last round, while remaining on the attack to confirm the victory.
In the co-printing event, the female champion of straw weights Zhang Weili (26-3-0) overcome a first raw first and checked more than 21 minutes from his defense of the title against candidacy n ° 1 Tatiana Suarez (11-1-0) to win a unanimous decision to keep your belt.
Zhang has won his last four defenses of the title, three per unanimous decision and the other by submission in the second round.
Of the sub-card:
The Tallison Teixeira heavy goods vehicles (8-0-0) made its UFC debut by marking a TKO in the first round on Justin Tafa (7-5-0). This made eight consecutive fights that Teixeira ended in the first round, this one which lasts at only 35 seconds.
In a light heavyweight fight, Jim Crute (12-4-2) and Rodolfo Bellato (12-2-1) both achieved impressive performances. Crute dominated the first round, while Bellato was better in the second. A very close third left the judges who turn in a majority draw.
In a three-round Welter weight fight, Jake Matthews (21-7-0) beat Francisco Prado (12-3-0) by unanimous decision.
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