UFC 297: NBA Star Kristaps Porzingis Reacts to Sean Strickland & Dricus Du Plessis Trash Talk

NBA star Kristaps Porzingis is as excited as anyone to see Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis finally settle things at UFC 297 this weekend.

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Anticipation for Strickland’s first title defense in the main event of UFC 297 received a significant boost when the 32-year-old brawled with Du Plessis in the stands at UFC 296, and just recently the middleweight champion revealed that he had to warn the South African against mentioning certain topics if he wanted their matchup to remain intact.

Porzingis recently did an interview with MMA Junkie in Toronto after his Boston Celtics defeated the hometown Raptors, and the Latvian was happy to discuss his fandom for MMA and weigh-in on how things have escalated between Strickland and Du Plessis.

[The trash talk], it works, no?” Porzingis told Mike Bohn. “It sells the fights at the end. But to what level you wanna do that – I don’t know. It’s up to the fighters of course. I’m in a different game, and of course there’s trash talk on the floor and things like that. And sometimes there’s also some lines crossed, you know? That’s what we do. We’re competitors, and sometimes those boundaries get pushed.”

There’s been a lot of talk about “boundaries” recently when it comes to trash talk among UFC fighters, and Strickland has faced criticism for the fact that he was willing to take a number of questionable shots at unbeaten welterweight Ian Machado Garry but has tried to draw a line when it comes to discussing his own personal life.

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The UFC middleweight champion is coming off easily the biggest victory of his career when he upset Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 last year, and that win also at least temporarily derailed another growing rivalry between Adesanya and Du Plessis after the pair had a heated faceoff in the cage at UFC 287.

Porzingis wasn't willing to disclose which fighter he thinks will leave Toronto with the UFC middleweight belt after this weekend, but the NBA star is certainly as invested as any other hardcore combat sports fan to see how things play out between Strickland and Du Plessis.

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