Watch Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis face off after UFC 297 press conference

Watch Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis face off after UFC 297 press conference

Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis squared off after a raucous UFC 297 press conference in Toronto in which a fan charged the stage for a handshake with Strickland.

Strickland didn’t hold eye contact with du Plessis after promising a fight “to the death” with the South African challenger. But at no point was there worry about violence after du Plessis’ earlier comments drew a stabbing threat from Strickland.

UFC 297 takes place Saturday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and airs live on ESPN+ pay-per-view. The co-main event features a women’s bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva as they fight for the vacant belt.

Pennington and Bueno Silva got into a verbal sparring match, with Silva calling Pennington a boring fighter and Pennington firing back.

With all of the verbal fireworks – mostly from Strickland – the audience ate everything up, drowning out questions from the media as they yelled their approval. One fan got very carried away and introduced himself to the middleweight champ onstage.