The much-awaited bout takes place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada as the headline event on the UFC 297 fight card.

Du Plessis, who is currently home in SA preparing for arguably the biggest fight of his career since signing an international contract, has acknowledged having to make the tough decision to be away from his family to chase his dream.

"Yeah, unfortunately so. Christmas is one of my favourite times of year, I like to eat a lot, I enjoy a couple of beers and spending time with family, but now all of that's changed," said Du Plessis.

"But I do have the opportunity to go out there, make history and put my legacy out there to be remembered forever – that beats a good meal and a couple of beers any day of the week."

The 29-year-old stepped onto the UFC stage for the first time more than three years ago, when he came up against Markus Perez from Brazil and won via knockout in the opening round in Abu Dhabi.

He hasn’t looked back since, and says it’s surreal he’s now on the verge of being a title holder if he beats Strickland.

"It feels like yesterday that I was in this exact same position, just fighting in this hexagon for the EFC title, and then the second one, and now things are coming together," he reflected.

"This lifelong dream and goal, and all these years I've been working towards this – it's been 10 years since my debut and I'm finally getting that opportunity to become the number one middleweight in the world.

"It's incredible and I'm loving this journey, I'm loving every moment, and I'm loving the support that I'm getting – everybody's getting behind me and this is truly going to be something special."

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