Whittaker called Strickland and Du Plessis’ fight a production

Former UFC middleweight titleholder Robert Whittaker is inclined to believe that the fight between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis, which was one of the highlights of UFC 296 in Las Vegas, was fake and staged.

“Honestly, I think it was staged,” the Australian said on another edition of the MMArcade podcast. “Because it looked weird. The way it happened was weird. You saw Strickland say, ‘Step aside, please,’ and then jump in WWE style and start throwing fake punches to Drikkus’ back. Maybe it was done for the promotion, but personally I think it’s a bit silly since Shawn is the champion. Either way, it was a weird little brawl.”

At a press conference after the event, UFC head honcho Dana White took responsibility for the incident, saying he made a mistake in seating the middleweight title fight next to each other.

As a reminder, the fight between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis will headline UFC 297, which takes place on January 20 in Toronto.

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