Sean Strickland – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Khalil Rountree: Ex-UFC champ Sean Strickland apologized for being a ‘dumbass’ when he started beef

It appears the beef between Khalil Rountree and Sean Strickland is over – at least on Rountree’s side.

SALT LAKE CITY – It appears the beef between [autotag]Khalil Rountree[/autotag] and [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] is over – at least from Rountree’s side.

Rountree (14-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) challenges light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 307 (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) headliner at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

Strickland is in Salt Lake City to help Pereira prep for Rountree, whom he’s never been fond of. His issue with him started in 2022 when he went off on Rountree for crying during one of his post-fight scrums. Rountree downplayed his comments, claiming he didn’t know who Strickland was.

Rountree says Strickland approached him a couple of months ago to apologize, but that didn’t stop the former UFC middleweight champion from recently going off on Rountree again, calling him a “liberal c*ck beta male,” as well as accusing him of being in a cult.

“Honestly, the last interaction that I had with Sean Strickland was at the UFC PI. It was literally the day after Dan Ige stepped in for that fight on like three hours, four hours’ notice, or something like that,” Rountree told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 307 media day. “Out of the blue, Sean Strickland came up to me. He approached me, and he just said, like, ‘Khalil, I apologize. I’m a dumbass. I actually kind of like you. I think you’re liberal, but overall, I like you’ or ‘I respect you,’ something along those lines.

“So what I took it as is, almost like squashing whatever beef, or just saying, like, ‘Look dude, I am who I am. I’m going to say what I’m going to say, but I’m coming here to personally shake your hand, tell you I think you’re a liberal to a certain level, I respect you.’ It was like that. So I took it as like, OK, you’re coming here to kind of make the peace. I left it at that. So now, anything moving forward, anything that’s said, I’ve got that in my memory bank, so I know that there’s really no issue. It’s really just talk, and I won’t concern myself with it.”

Strickland is expected to get his desired title-fight rematch with UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, who edged him out by split decision in their first fight in January,

[lawrence-related id=2775018,2775665,2775637,2775537]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

Israel Adesanya thinks ‘stubborn’ UFC champ Dricus Du Plessis beats Sean Strickland again

Israel Adesanya sees UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis’ relentlessness helping him prevail against Sean Strickland.

[autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] sees UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag]’ relentlessness helping him prevail against [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag].

Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) is expected to defend his title against Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) next – the man he dethroned by split decision at UFC 297 to claim the belt. Du Plessis notched his first title defense when he submitted Adesanya in the fourth round at UFC 305. Adesanya, who is coming off back-to-back title losses to Strickland and Du Plessis, shed light on how he thinks a rematch between Du Plessis and Strickland would go.

“They already fought before. I fought both of them,” Adesanya said on “The Adam Carolla Show” “I think Du Plessis might get it done again. He’s just so weird. The way he fights is awkward. He’s stubborn. No matter how tired he gets, he’ll still just throw, just to stop you in your tracks or stop you from doing what you’re doing. And he’ll just throw and hope. It wouldn’t really land, but it would stop what you’re trying to progress.”

Adesanya (24-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) provided an update on his future. He plans on competing soon and will wait to see how the middleweight division shakes out in the next couple of months.

In his first middleweight title reign, Adesanya notched five title defenses until he ran into Alex Pereira at UFC 281. He was able to reclaim his belt with a knockout of Pereira at UFC 287 before dropping two straight to Strickland and Du Plessis.

[lawrence-related id=2766785,2766350,2766348,2764537]

Sean Strickland: Alex Pereira ‘is going to make easy work’ of Khalil Rountree at UFC 307

Sean Strickland predicts a dominant win for Alex Pereira at UFC 307.

[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] predicts a dominant win for [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] at UFC 307.

Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) defends his light heavyweight title against [autotag]Khalil Rountree[/autotag] (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in Saturday’s main event in Salt Lake City.

Strickland has spent the past couple of weeks training with former foe Pereira, who knocked him out in the first round of their middleweight matchup at UFC 276.

“We’ve had a lot of wars. The problem with Alex is that he hits really f*cking hard, you guys – really f*cking hard. But let me tell you why,” Strickland told The Schmo. “When you get raised in the jungles of Brazil where you don’t have running water and surviving off tapir and wildebeest as an infant, and then you get worked in a tire shop, that’s a hard man to fight. It’s hard, bro, and my daddy issues don’t make up for that level of hardness. So it was good work.”

Strickland thinks Rountree will be completely outmatched wherever the fight goes.

“I just can’t see Khalil pulling it off,” Strickland told Helen Yee. “I think I may have watched him fight Anthony Smith. I just can’t see it happening. I don’t think he has the tools in the toolbox to beat Alex. He’s not knocking him out. He’s not outstriking him. He’s not outwrestling him. I think Alex is going to make easy work of this fight.”

[lawrence-related id=2773517,2774971,2773344,2773066]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

Alex Pereira reveals Sean Strickland joining UFC 307 fight camp

UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is turning to former foe Sean Strickland for help heading into UFC 307.

UFC light heavyweight champion [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] is turning to former foe [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] for help heading into UFC 307.

Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) defends his title against Khalil Rountree (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in the UFC 307 headliner Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City. Pereira knocked out Strickland in Round 1 of their July 2022 middleweight matchup. They have since trained together, and “Poatan” will once again utilize Strickland in training.

Pereira moved his camp to Salt Lake City to ensure he’s even better prepared than he was when he edged out Jan Blachowicz in his light heavyweight debut at UFC 291 in Utah.

“The thing about the altitude is that it’s hard (to train),” Pereira said on his YouTube channel (h/t MMA Fighting). “We did this once when I fought Blachowicz. We did it for two weeks then and three weeks now. I think it’s going to be much better. …

“We have a great team here. We have Glover (Teixeira), Plinio (Cruz), Yousri (Belgaroui), ‘Cesinha’ (Cesar Almeida). Sean Strickland is also coming next week to train with us here. I’m very happy with this preparation.”

Strickland is currently campaigning for a rematch with UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis. Strickland lost his title to Du Plessis by split decision at UFC 297 and has since rebounded with a win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302.

[lawrence-related id=2773344,2773066,2772065,2767260]

Robert Whittaker’s manager claims Sean Strickland turned down UFC 305 fight

According to Robert Whittaker’s manager, the initial plan was to have him fight Sean Strickland.

According to [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag]’s manager, the initial plan was to have him fight [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag].

Whittaker’s manager, Titus Day, said the UFC approached Whittaker (26-7 MMA, 17-5 UFC) with another fight right after he knocked out Ikram Aliskerov at UFC on ABC 6 in June. Day said the name they offered was Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) at UFC 305 in Perth, but Strickland rejected the offer.

After rebounding from his title loss to Dricus Du Plessis with a win over Paulo Costa, Strickland made it clear that he doesn’t intend on fighting again unless it’s for the title. With Strickland allegedly turning down Whittaker, “The Reaper” was rebooked against Khamzat Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in the UFC 308 co-main event Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi.

“Sean’s obviously taking a very different strategy just sitting there and waiting,” Day told Submission Radio. “He’s probably got a legitimate call for the title, but Rob wants to fight. That’s how he makes a living. Straight after the last fight in in Riyadh, they said to us straight away, ‘Does Rob want to fight?’ Like literally on the day. ‘Does Rob want to fight Sean in Perth?’ And we said yeah, sure, absolutely. And apparently he said no. So yeah, that was it.

“Then we knew there was going to be an Abu Dhabi card coming up. Rob loves fighting there and so he just said, ‘Yeah, I want to fight on that Abu Dhabi card.’ They said, ‘Would you fight Khamzat again?’ He said, ‘Yup, for sure.”

If Whittaker gets past Chimaev, he will be in a two-man race with Strickland for a rematch against middleweight champion Du Plessis. Day isn’t sure if Whittaker would be Du Plessis’ next title defense but thinks a title fight should undeniably be next.

“It’s difficult to know what the UFC is thinking or what they’re going to do, but I know they like fighters that are active,” Day said. “They like fighters that don’t say no. They don’t like fighters that sit around and wait.

“So, I think if Rob goes out and has a any sort of win against Khamzat – particularly if it’s impressive his next fight will be for the title. Whether they slip in a Strickland fight in the meantime, I’m not sure. I doubt it.”

[lawrence-related id=2766350,2764229,2763005,2753921]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

UFC champ Belal Muhammad sees Sean Strickland as an easy fight: ‘I slap him around’

UFC welterweight champ Belal Muhammad wouldn’t hesitate moving up to middleweight to fight Sean Strickland.

UFC welterweight champion [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] wouldn’t hesitate moving up to middleweight to fight [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag].

Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) is not fond of Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) or his fighting style. He’s confident he’d have his way with him if they ever fought and thinks the former middleweight champ is all bark, no bite.

“I slap him around,” Muhammad told Submission Radio of Strickland. “I literally go in there, and I slap him around. When I think of tough fights, Sean’s not one of them. I think he would be an easy fight for me. He beats a lot of guys with cardio; I have better cardio than him. He beats a lot of guys with jabs; I have better boxing than him. He beats guys with teeps, but those guys, they fight him a certain way. They don’t fight him smart. Costa backed up the whole time, and then he just took those teep kicks. Even with Adesanya, he backed up the whole time for the most part.

“And then even in that fight, it wasn’t that great of a fight, right? If Sean never landed that cross, he could have lost a boring decision, even with his coach in his corner telling him, like, ‘Sean, you’re about to lose a boring decision’ even though he landed that cross. So, I think people just think about his last 10 seconds of every fight, and he goes crazy and people are like, ‘Oh, Sean is wild, man, and he says wild things.’ But he fights safe, and he fights to not get hit, and he fights to not lose. So, I think I go in there and I break him with pressure, and honestly I’ll make it look easy.”

Muhammad wants to clear out his division first, and whether or not Strickland manages to reclaim the middleweight title, he’d jump at the opportunity to fight him.

“Oh man, I would love to fight Sean,” Muhammad said. “It doesn’t even have to be belts on the line. I would just fight him just to fight him at 185 because he ain’t coming down to 170 anymore. But, yeah, that would be the fight I would want at 185. I think for myself now, it’s building a legacy now. So when you look at the names that I have in my record and you look at the guys that I fought, I have a lot of the big name veterans, right? You got ‘Wonderboy,’ Maia, Gilbert Burns, Luque, even Randy Brown, Sean Brady, and now Leon Edwards. I think maybe two more. These young guns, right? You’ve got Shavkat (Rakhmonov) then I think Ian Garry or (Jack Della Maddalena). One of those guys is going to go ahead.

“One of those guys either have to fight each other or get a win against a Kamaru (Usman) or somebody. Or it could be Kamaru, and then I think I could start talking about somebody else because I had to take the long road to get here, right? I had to go through so many big-name guys, and like I said, I have four top-five wins that, when you look at it, it’s going to eventually be like, now I’m gonna have to do a rematch. Now there’s gonna be another rematch. But I think after two I can start talking about it. I think it just depends on who’s the champion or who’s up there, right? Because if it’s Sean, I would definitely want that fight, and I would beg for that fight. But I don’t think he’s going to be touching gold anymore. Dude sucks.”

[lawrence-related id=2742864,2767210,2765241,2763259]

Israel Adesanya’s coach explains why Dricus Du Plessis loss ‘a lot easier’ to accept than Sean Strickland

As personal as things got with Dricus Du Plessis, the Sean Strickland loss still remains Israel Adesanya’s toughest pill to swallow.

The [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] loss still remains [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag]’s toughest pill to swallow, according to his head coach.

Eugene Bareman praised middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) for submitting Adesanya (24-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) in the fourth round of their title fight at UFC 305 in August.

The City Kickboxing coach was pleased with Adesanya’s form and chalked up the loss to fatigue.

“You can’t take anything away from Dricus. He’s got underrated defense, underrated offense,” Bareman said on the “Who The Fook Are These Guys?” podcast. “People are so used to watching some of the prettiest and technical strikers that they immediately discredit other people that don’t look like that blueprint. They fail to see the genius in what they’re doing. It was a very close fight, and at the end of the day Israel fatigued. I’m not sure if Israel’s ever been submitted. I can’t remember.

“That position, Israel’s done that a thousand times and got out of it a thousand times. What causes that is the opponent putting pressure on you, pushes you to a place where you’re fatigued. You know what to do, but your brain’s not working, and your body’s not responding because you’re so fatigued. That’s fighting. That’s what makes it such an interesting sport, is that you’re working at the highest level under all this duress, and sometimes it gets the better of you, and it got the better of Israel.”

Adesanya now has lost back-to-back fights to Strickland and Du Plessis. The Strickland loss stunned many, including Adesanya.

“The Strickland loss, he’ll never get over,” Bareman said. “You just fought badly, and it was unexplainable. It’s intangible. It’s not measurable what caused it. You just go down a rabbit hole of a million things. But the Dricus fight, he was doing well. It was a great contest, and he got outmaneuvered. He got outdone.

“You can figure out exactly what happened, follow the path, figure out went wrong, and it’s very traceable. Those losses are much more easier to figure out rather than the unexplained sort of losses that kind of leave you scratching your head a little bit. So, he’s fine in that respect. Any loss is hard, but trust me this one’s a lot easier to take than the Strickland one.”

[lawrence-related id=2765251,2765055,2765053,2764739]

Robert Whittaker: Dricus Du Plessis has ‘insane pressure,’ beats Sean Strickland again

Robert Whittaker expects Dricus Du Plessis to still be champion when he contends for the title again.

[autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] expects [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] to still be UFC middleweight champion when he contends for the title again.

Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) notched his first title defense with a submission of Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in August. He is expected to run things back with [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] next.

Du Plessis edged out Strickland to capture the middleweight title at UFC 297, a fight Strickland is adamant he won. If Strickland gets his wish of rematching Du Plessis, Whittaker thinks he’ll fall short again.

“Mate, I think Dricus still,” Whittaker told Submission Radio. “Like Dricus is a hard fight. He just has that insane pressure and willingness to get hit to land hits, and he wins that fight a lot of the time. I think he’s a hard fight for a lot of people.”

Whittaker meets Khamzat Chimaev in a pivotal 185-pound clash Oct. 26 at UFC 308. His most recent loss came to Du Plessis by TKO at UFC 290, and the former champion hopes he can get another crack at Du Plessis with a win.

So what will it take to beat Du Plessis in the octagon? Whittaker says matching his intensity.

“It’s like you need to take the fight to him for 25 minutes,” Whittaker explained. “You cannot give him any space, you cannot let him in, you cannot give him opportunity, you cannot relax, you cannot sit on your laurels. You need to be wired on, locked in for 25 minutes.”

[lawrence-related id=2764229,2764537,2765055,2764739]

Caio Borralho picks Sean Strickland to beat Dricus Du Plessis in rematch – ‘maybe’

Caio Borralho acknowledges that he’s been doubting UFC champ Dricus Du Plessis for too long.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Caio Borralho[/autotag] is done predicting UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag]’ fights.

Borralho (17-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) wonders how Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) continues to prevail, previously saying “it’s crazy how bad he is.” Du Plessis recently submitted Israel Adesanya to retain his title at UFC 305.

[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) is touted to potentially be Du Plessis’ next title challenger, and if the pair run things back, Borralho is picking Strickland to win.

Or is he?

“I got Strickland winning this fight, maybe, because I think Strickland won the last one, but maybe he left a little bit inside the octagon that he could do a little bit more,” Borralho told reporters, including MMA Junkie, after UFC on ESPN 62. “But MMA is crazy. I always bet against Dricus, and he always wins, so I’m not betting on the next one. Let those guys kill themselves and I’m the next one.”

Borralho emerged as a top middleweight contender after outslugging former title challenger Jared Cannonier in Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 62 main event at the UFC Apex.

He thinks he’s earned a title shot but is willing to take on any top-ranked middleweight to cement himself as No. 1 contender.

“I want a title shot, that’s for sure, but I’m a company man,” Borralho said. “Whoever Hunter (Campbell) and Dana (White) send me to fight. If they’re people above me or something like that, like the fight that I deserve, the fight that’s going to put me even more close to the belt, I’m going to take it, because I’m the company man.”

[lawrence-related id=2766263,2766164]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 62.

Sean Strickland: Alex Pereira not going back down to middleweight, ‘looked like death’ in last cut

Sean Strickland doubts Alex Pereira moves back down to 185 pounds.

[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] doubts [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] moves back down to 185 pounds.

After Dricus Du Plessis retained his middleweight title with a submission of Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, light heavyweight champion Pereira sent him a warning.

Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) said he’d drop to middleweight one more time to face Du Plessis, but Strickland strongly advises him against that move.

“His big ass ain’t going back down to 185, dude,” Strickland told ESPN. “As a welterweight that moved up to 185, once you get used to that weight class, the thought of going back down sounds miserable. I think Alex should fight (Du Plessis) at 205 any day of the week. Any day of the week, he sits at 205, 100 percent.”

Pereira’s most recent appearance at middleweight came at UFC 287 when he lost his middleweight title to Adesanya by knockout. He has since moved up to 205 pounds, where he ruled over the division by claiming the title and defending it twice.

Strickland recalls seeing Pereira in rough shape prior to his fight with Adesanya at UFC 287. Du Plessis himself would rather fight Pereira at light heavyweight over middleweight.

“I remember seeing Alex for his last fight (at middleweight) in the back room, and he looked like death,” Strickland said. “When he last middleweight cut, I walked to go say hi to him, and he just looked like f*cking death – to the point where I’m like, ‘Man, this ain’t good for you dude, go up.’ I think at 205 he’d do in a heartbeat, but 185 I can’t see him doing that, luckily for us.”

Pereira defends his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in the UFC 307 main event in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5.

[lawrence-related id=2765067,2764740,2764549,2764545]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.