Dricus Du Plessis’ Coach Weighs in on Sean Strickland Trashing His Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt

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— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) December 23, 2023

Dricus Du Plessis’ coach, Niel Geyser, claims Sean Strickland was partly right in throwing his jiu-jitsu black belt into the garbage bin.

The effectiveness of jiu-jitsu in MMA has been questioned by several fighters, including some notable mentions like Derrick Lewis. Strickland was latest to mock BJJ by uploading a video of him throwing his black belt into the garbage.

“Over 10 years of my life wanting a piece of fabric,” the UFC middleweight champion wrote.

Strickland is set to defend his strap against Du Plessis in the main event at UFC 297 in Toronto on Jan. 20. Geyser agrees with Strickland’s stance, although only somewhat. Geyser claims pure gi jiu-jitsu is very different than MMA grappling and a black belt is likely to suffer a beatdown in an MMA bout. However, Geyser also believes there is the possibility of Strickland just pulling off the stunt simply for attention.

“I think to a certain extent he’s got a point,” Geyser said on the Hack Check podcast. “Because pure jiu-jitsu, gi grappling is very different from MMA. And I think you can have a black belt in jiu-jitsu but you will still get your ass whipped in an MMA fight. So there’s certain aspects you need to be aware of, it’s very different. So I can understand in some context why he’d make such a comment, although I don’t necessarily think it’s a 100% correct.

“On the other side, and this is where context comes in, you gotta understand that Strickland is a guy that’s gonna say a lot of things to get a lot of traction in the media.”