Hardy Talks Middleweight Devolution From 'Neo Out Of The Matrix' Anderson Silva To 'Guys You Bring In To Warm You Up' In Sean Strickland & Dricus Du Plessis

Originally posted on MMA News | By Kyle Dimond | Last updated 1/16/24

The UFC 297 main event between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis this Saturday night has got many people split down the line.

With both men's unexpected trajectories to the top of the division and awkward fighting styles, the match-up is both difficult to predict and completely out of left field if you went back a couple years.

In previous years, the 185-pound division was formerly home to great champions like Anderson Silva and Israel Adesanya, who were predominantly strikers and were great martial artists to watch at their best.

Strickland and Du Plessis, on the other hand, have very different skill sets that may not be the most attractive, but they're hard to argue against when it comes to effectiveness.

This was always going to bring a lot into question for a student and expert analyst of the sport like Dan Hardy.

Dan Hardy Compares Strickland And Du Plessis To The All-Time Great Middleweight, Anderson Silva

Hardy finds himself fascinated by the success of both men involved in the main event because of one particular aspect.

Both the champion and challenger have multiple traits and characteristics that a coach would try to iron out in a fighter.

Strickland and Du Plessis have unconventional stances, movement and offensive and defensive tools at their disposal, but they have made their way to the top through winning fights.

Hardy gave his take on the main event match-up during a recent interview with MMA Crazy.

Whilst acknowledging their uniquely effective flawed styles, "The Outlaw" couldn't help but look back on a time when the middleweight division was represented by one of the greatest champions in the history of the sport.

Comparing anyone to the greatness of "The Spider" is an incredibly high bar but Hardy is brutally honest about what he sees when looking at Strickland and Du Plessis.

"They've both got such weird, really weird, unusual MMA styles. For me, the middleweight division was Anderson Silva who was like Neo out of The Matrix with what he could do and now we've got these two guys who, no disrespect, but Veronica (Hardy) said it perfectly. They're like the guys you bring in to warm you up for your fight. They're like rugged sparring partners in the gym, they're not like the elitist level of mixed martial artists but what's fascinating is, Strickland has got a style that's been crafted in the best gyms around the US right, so it's got to be working for him."

This article first appeared on MMA News and was syndicated with permission.

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