Sean Strickland may have slammed the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano fight, but that isn’t stopping him from looking to attend Saturday’s event.
Prior to his UFC Houston fight with Anthony Hernandez back in February, Strickland told Newsweek that he had zero interest in the Rousey vs. Carano matchup, which is scheduled to take place inside the Intuit Dome.
“Stupid, [expletive],” Strickland said when asked for his thoughts on the fight. “Ronda Rousey’s gonna steamroll her. Ronda Rousey is an Olympian that was a multi-time world champion. Gina Carano was pretty at a time when women’s MMA sucked. I mean, it’s still not very good, but when Gina Carano was fighting, it was significantly worse. Ronda Rousey’s gonna [expletive] steamroll her, and we’re just gonna watch two middle-aged women going through menopause fight each other. I don’t know. I have no interest in that. Who gives a [expletive].”
Fast forward to fight week, and it appears Strickland is intrigued enough to try to attend the event. During a media scrum, Most Valuable Promotions CEO Nakisa Badarian told reporters that Strickland is asking for tickets to the show. Badarian doesn’t sound too receptive to the idea, but the door might be open (via MMAJunkie).
“I got a request today from Sean Strickland,” Badarian said. “I’ve got to talk to Ronda because he was very derogatory about Ronda and Gina – disrespectful, saying inappropriate things. While we’d love to have him as a UFC champion, and I think he puts on a tremendous act, you can’t disrespect the headliners and then call for free tickets.”
Rousey was later asked if she’d have an issue with Strickland getting free tickets for her fight against Carano. It seems like “Rowdy” isn’t too bothered by Strickland’s past comments.
“Sure, yeah, he can come,” Rousey said – then laughed. “I’m glad that he has to go through me now. I feel very cool about that. But yeah, sure, come on over. We can convert anyone.”
Do you think Sean Strickland ultimately attends Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano? Sound off in the comments below.