UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was escorted out of the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas after starting a brawl with Dricus du Plessis on Saturday. The physical altercation took place in the crowd during the pay-per-view main card of UFC 296.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan announced on the broadcast that a fight broke out between the two parties. Fellow commentator Jon Anik added that Strickland had been escorted out of the building. Moments before the altercation, Strickland and Du Plessis were given close-ups on the broadcast ahead of their UFC middleweight title fight at UFC 297 on Jan. 20.
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Many angles of the altercation circulated online. One video shows Strickland calmly asking a family with small children to move aside before leaping onto Du Plessis and unloading punches. Du Plessis grabbed Strickland around the waist before people swarmed to intervene. Strickland and Du Plessis were bizarrely seated directly across from each other one row apart after engaging in an ugly war of words at a press conference on Thursday.
UFC 296, headlined by UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington, is the final UFC card of 2023. Strickland and Du Plessis will headline the first PPV of 2024 at UFC 297, taking place in Toronto.
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