Sean
Strickland fought at less than 100% at UFC 328. |
Getty/UFC
If it seems like Sean
Strickland was even more relliant on his jab than usual at
UFC
328, well, there might be a reason for that.
Strickland regained the middleweight title with a split-decision
triumph over Khamzat
Chimaev in Saturday’s main event at the Prudential Center in
Newark, New Jersey. After being grounded for the majority of Round
1, Strickland gradually built momentum by turning the fight into a
standup battle — where he was able to outduel his Chechen rival.
Still, Strickland wasn’t 100% during his upset victory due to an
injury he sustained while sparring former Bellator champ Johnny
Eblen.
“You guys want to hear something funny?” Strickland said at the
post-fight press conference. “So on Tuesday, I’m sparring Johnny,
that motherf—er, the PFL champ. And I’m at Plinio’s gym, Cruz’s
gym, and he f—ing shoots on me, and I hit his brick-ass wall, and I
separated my shoulder. So I had a Grade 1 AC joint separation on
Tuesday.”
Ultimately, Strickland was able to overcome the injury, as he
outlanded Chimaev by a 123-to-98 count in significant strikes. And
though he was taken down nine times in the bout, Chimaev was only
able to log 7:16 of control time in the 25-minute contest — and
nearly five minutes of that occurred in Round 1.
As for the supposed bad blood with Chimaev, it appeared to be short
lived, if it existed at all. The two fighters were cordial during
the fight, and Chimaev wrapped the belt around Strickland at the
conclusion of the championship clash.
“There is something, unless you’ve experienced it, you just don’t
know what it’s like,” Strickland said. “When you go and fight
another man, your soul is just exposed. When you’re f—king
bleeding, and he’s bleeding, I want to quit; he wants to quit, we
don’t want to be there, you just have this level of respect for one
another. It transcends race, religion, nationality, country. It’s
something that you just don’t know. You kind of become someone’s
brother after you and him try to die, win or lose.”
Selling Fights
Strickland also admitted that much of the animosity with Chimaev
may have been manufactured in the name of selling the drama.
“I sell fights,” Strickland said. “Look at the UFC, how f—ing
boring it is. Really, the UFC is so f—ing boring. Do you even know
half the [roster]? Other than Alex [Pereira], and he doesn’t even
talk. He’s just big and scary. That guy just knocks everybody out.
But other than Alex, it’s fl—ng boring.”
With Chimaev potentially moving up to 205 pounds after UFC 328,
Strickland is more than willing to take on the next deserving
contender. At this point that appears to be Nassourdine
Imavov, who was widely regarded as the most worthy challenger
for Chimaev before Strickland jumped the contender’s queue.
Strickland defeated Imavov in January 2023.
“I truly believe in UFC rankings,” Strickland said. “I think they
f—-ing matter, and I hate when guys jump them. So, if that’s what
the UFC, that’s the rankings, that’s who it is. Let’s go.”