Dricus Du Plessis may be overly confident going into next fight

“The judges can stay home for this one… #stillknocks #preparetobeamazed,” he wrote as a caption to pictures of him training. One of the images shows him landing a vicious-looking elbow to the head of his training partner.

Du Plessis’ post seems to be a reference to his first fight against Strickland. The two faced off at UFC 297, fighting to a controversial split decision that went Du Plessis’ way and earned him the belt.

After defending his title by finishing former champion Israel Adesanya, "Stillknocks" seems sure he can do the same to Strickland and legitimize his split-decision belt grab. But Du Plessis is perhaps forgetting how tough Strickland could be to finish.

While Du Plessis’ first title defense was successful, it wasn’t dominant all the way through. Going into the fourth round, when the South African submitted Adesanya, the judges were split. Two had the fight 29-28 for Du Plessis, while one scored it 29-28 for Adesanya.

Also, consider the fact that Strickland did dominate Adesanya, with all three judges scoring the bout 49-46 in the underdog American’s favor. So Strickland has shown that he can go all the way with a champ, using his Philly Shell defense and deadly jab to come out on top.

And Strickland is just as eager as Du Plessis is to avoid leaving their upcoming fight in the judges’ hands — especially after running through Paulo Costa at UFC 302 and having one judge inexplicably give the fight to Costa.

In the end, both Du Plessis and Strickland are warriors who’ll likely come out swinging. A look back at Du Plessis’ face after his win over Strickland should remind fans that it’s anyone’s fight.