“I’m rocking with him now” – South African star Dricus Du Plessis praised for showing support to Palestine ahead of UFC 297
Dricus Du Plessis publicly supports Palestine, intensifying his feud with pro-Israel fighter Sean Strickland, adding political dimensions to their already heated upcoming UFC match-up.
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Dricus Du Plessis supports Palestine (Image via: IMAGO, X)
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict made many fighters in the UFC choose sides. Most of the Muslim fighters in the UFC stood with Palestine. However, fighters like Michel Pereira, Natan Levy, and Sean Strickland expressed support for Israel. Now, UFC middleweight title challenger Dricus Du Plessis expressed support for Palestine through his Instagram story.
Du Plessis and Strickland already have beef due to their verbal and physical altercations in Las Vegas. Now, the two repping opposing sides of the geo-political conflict have added extra sauce to the fight. Du Plessis’ support of Palestine is due to the South African government’s stern stance against the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Strickland’s support of Israel came out when he bashed UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad on social media for his pro-Palestinian views. Du Plessis had not announced any support for it whatsoever. However, he is a staunch critic of the South African, which he labelled as corrupt in a recent podcast interview.
Du Plessis is also an admirer of Donald Trump. Trump was in attendance at UFC 290 when he knocked out Robert Whitaker in the second round. Trump shook hands and congratulated Du Plessis after the victory. Du Plessis is a betting underdog against Sean Strickland at UFC 297. He was a bigger underdog against Whitaker.
MMA netizens react to Dricus Du Plessis supporting Palestine
Dricus Du Plessis’ solidarity with Palestine was not unnoticed by MMA netizens. Some supported Du Plessis’ decision whilst others did not want to mix politics and religion. However, others supported Du Plessis’ decision to be vocal about his beliefs.
The news of Du Plessis’ support of Palestine spread like wildfire on social media platform X. The pro-Palestinian supporters showed their support for Du Plessis whilst the pro-Israeli supporters showed support for Sean Strickland. Nonetheless, see how fans reacted to the video below.
Strickland will look to become the first South African UFC champion at UFC 297. Moreover, he can also become the first African resident to become the champion. Even though Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, and Francis Ngannou have African heritage, they did not reside in Africa when they were UFC champions.
In case you missed it!
- “I actually prefer guys having physical fights,” Laura Sanko reveals why she liked Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis causing havoc in crowd at UFC 296
- “I’ll f**king KILL you!” Sean Strickland was ‘boiling’ after Dricus du Plessis talked about fighter’s child abuse
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