Sean Strickland offered his perspective on the continuing argument between Kamaru Usman and Dricus Du Plessis.
Du Plessis said at the media day before his bout at UFC 285 that he was more African than Kamaru Usman. Usman was born in Nigeria and later moved to North America as a child. Meanwhile, du Plessis was born in South Africa and still resides there.
Usman was questioned about Du Plessis’ remarks during the media day as he gets ready for his upcoming match at UFC 286. The former welterweight UFC champion said:
“I saw it, and I guess the thing about me is, I try not to be quick to jump on someone and really kill them for those things… I understand what he’s trying to say, but I think the one thing he’s failing to realize is, just because I go to China, and my parents are in China and I’m raised in China, that doesn’t make me more Chinese than people from China…”
Usman added: “That doesn’t make me more Chinese, and so just because you went over to South Africa and you were raised there, that doesn’t make you African. So, I would say to him: Try to be a little bit more careful with what you say and how you say it.”
The MMA world is divided by Dricus Du Plessis’ statement. Some individuals say Kamaru Usman is correct since he was born in Nigeria, while others think Du Plessis is correct because he lived most of his life in North America.
On Twitter, UFC middleweight Sean Strickland offered his opinion:
“You mother f*ckers aren’t going to like this but I think Dricus is more of an African than the entire African UFC roster living in America. By your logic if you’re not a pasty white guy then you’re not American. Mother f*cker is born and lives in Africa… idiots..”
To make matters more interesting, Strickland is a teammate of Francis Ngannou and has previously publicly made statements supporting Ngannou despite his conflict with the UFC.
No word yet on how Ngannou might feel about this statement considering he resides in Las Vegas along with Strickland.