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Based in Rochester, England, Simon Head is a veteran sports editor who has been covering sport for national and international outlets since 2000, and is one of the longest-tenured MMA journalists in the UK. Since 2009, Simon has covered MMA for a host of major outlets across the world, including BBC Sport, BBC Three, MMA Junkie/USA Today, BT Sport, Daily Mirror, The Sun and The National UAE, as well as providing official content to several of the world's top MMA organizations, including UFC, ONE Championship, Cage Warriors and the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF). Simon has also run the digital sports desks of two UK national newspapers, helped launch a major UK sports broadcaster, and coordinated coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups, UEFA European Championships, FA Cup Finals, Formula 1 and MotoGP.
Contributing Sports Writer
Fight analyst Dan Hardy used an interesting simile to explain the key difference between the two title fighters in Saturday night's main event at UFC 312 as middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis puts his title on the line against former champion Sean Strickland.
Hardy, a former UFC welterweight title challenger, is one of the most respected analysts in the game, and he rewatched the first meeting between Du Plessis and Strickland as part of his Outlawed Picks Podcast, as he dissected the technical aspects of several fights on the card in Sydney this weekend.
More news: Sean Strickland Recalls 'Most Challenging' Moment in First Fight With Dricus Du Plessis
And, as he attempted to describe the differentiating factors that separate the champion from the challenger, Hardy equated the fighters' relative arsenals as music playlists, with, in Hardy's view, one fighter offering a much deeper selection of tracks than the other.
"It's like, if they were both a playlist, and each technique is equated to a song, Sean Strickland's playlist has got like five or six songs on it that play on repeat, and Du Plessis has got like 25 on his playlist that play on repeat," he explained, in conversation with his wife, UFC women's flyweight Veronica Hardy.
"You don't know which one's going to come next. (Du Plessis is) going to spin, or he's going to kick you in the leg, or he's going to kick you in the midsection, or he's going to level change, which obviously he started to sprinkle in, in the second round, or he's going to kick you in the head. Then he's going to start winging over the top with hooks.
"There's more variety in his game, which seemed to keep Strickland on the back foot for longer in the fight."
Hardy explained how that difference in terms of the variety of weapons was crucial in Du Plessis' split-decision victory in his first fight with Strickland at UFC 297 in January 2023. But that wasn't the only thing in the South African's favor.
"Du Plessis is just more game," he observed, as he rewatched the first fight play out.
"He's just more willing to be in Strickland's face, and he's more willing to eat the jabs that Strickland keeps throwing out, which is usually what he's able to bully and push people around with.
"Du Plessis is just like, 'Whatever, bro! Just punch me in the face!'
"And the other thing, as well, is because of the way that he moves. He windshield-wipers his head to the side to power his punches, which means that Strickland can't keep him off, because he's never in the same place."
Hardy also suggested that Du Plessis could get the job done inside the distance this time around, with Strickland going too gung-ho, too early.
More news: Sean Strickland Explains Why Alex Pereira Will Be In His Corner at UFC 312
I think Strickland might make the mistake that he was expecting Du Plessis to make the last time, and start too fast in the first two rounds, like he did against Izzy," he explained.
"Because he's like, 'First round against Izzy, I was just on his case,' right? Because why not? Roll the dice till the wheels fall off.
"Whereas he was a bit more cautious in this first couple of rounds (against Du Plessis), and I think that might push him to be more aggressive, and therefore play into Du Plessis' hands a bit more, and make his takedowns easier. I think Du Plessis (wins)."
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