Dricus Du Plessis insists there’s no bad blood between him and Sean Strickland after their brawl at UFC 296.

Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) jumped Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in the crowd while they were both in attendance for the event less than two weeks ago at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Du Plessis challenges middleweight champion Strickland in the UFC 297 headliner Jan. 20 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Tensions started to flare during the 2024 Season Press Conference when Du Plessis brought up Strickland’s abusive childhood which spilt over to UFC 296.

“For me, I was completely calm about – I wasn’t angry,” Du Plessis said on The Coach and the Casual podcast. “I was having fun, and the security was like, ‘You need to chill.’ I’m like, ‘I’m as chill – I can’t be more chill. What do you want from me?’”

Despite Strickland attacking him, the South African fighter isn’t taking things personally ahead of their fight.

“There’s no hard feelings,” Du Plessis said. “I still have the world’s respect for Sean Strickland. He’s a real man. I said it, and he showed that (at UFC 296). I mean, he stood up for himself and he did what he – that’s what a real man does.

“He stood up for himself. Listen, did he behave like a champion? Probably not. But at the end of the day, champion or not, we are fighters. We are not football players. We are not sprinters. We are fighters, and that’s what we do. It’s in our DNA.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.