Sawt Falasteen - Du Plessis batters Strickland to retain UFC middleweight crown

The 31-year-old won 50-45, 50-45, 49-46 to boost his win-loss record to 23-2 and cement his status as mixed martial arts' top 185-pound fighter.

Du Plessis first claimed the belt when he beat Strickland via a close split decision in Toronto in January last year, a bout the polarising American repeatedly insisted he won.

The South African launched a successful defence against Nigeria-born Israel Adesanya in August, while Strickland rebounded with a tepid defeat of Brazil's Paulo Costa to set up the re-match.

"To come in here and try to knock this man out it is next to impossible," said Du Plessis, the first South African to win a UFC championship. "I'd love another round, but that's not the game.

"I wanted a submission, a knockout or an absolute domination of a five rounder," he added. "That's what I gave. I gave it my all."

The Toronto clash was decided by the smallest of margins, but this time it was all Du Plessis.

In a measured start he utilised his favoured head kicks, landing four in round one as Strickland responded with tentative jabs.

The volume of strikes increased in round two with Du Plessis delivering combinations to the face that drew blood as he picked up the pace.

Strickland lacked urgency and Du Plessis rammed home the advantage in a dominant round four.

A huge right hook saw blood come pouring from the American's nose, and another rocked him onto the cage.

Strickland's nose was clearly bothering him as Du Plessis went in for the kill in the fifth and last round, targeting it whenever possible without being able to deliver a decisive knockout blow.

In a profanity-laden courtside interview afterwards, the American said his nose was broken.

"I popped it back in place and kept fighting for you," he said. "He kicked my ass fair and square, props to him."

Also on the maincard, Chinese strawweight queen Zhang Weili successfully defended her title for a third straight time, dominating previously unbeaten American challenger Tatiana Suarez.

The ferocious Zhang, seen as the best pound-for-pound women's fighter in the sport, scored a unanimous win in the five-round fight that left Suarez with some nasty cuts.

"I was well prepared for this fight. Tatiana is very strong, but I just focused on myself," said Zhang, who stretched her record to 26-3.

In the heavyweight non-title bout, Brazil's Tallison Teixeira scored a knockout win over Justin Tafa after just 35 seconds, with a huge elbow to the nose sending the Australian down.

It stretched Teixeira's record to 8-0.

O.Mousa--SF-PST