- Sean Strickland thinks a win over his next fight is enough for the UFC to hand him a title shot
- “Tarzan” explained why he refused to wait for a ranked opponent and decided to fight a newcomer
Sean Strickland is set to face an unranked UFC newcomer Abus Magomedov as the headliner of UFC on ESPN 48. Though many think that it’s not a big fight, “Tarzan” insists that a win over Magomedov should put him in a position to face Israel Adesanya in a title fight.
Sean Thinks he Has Done Enough
Speaking to John Eric Poli of My MMA News, Strickland emphasized that he has won enough fights to be deserving of the title shot and he even had a close one with Jared Cannonier. For “Tarzan,” one win should already be his ticket to a fight with Izzy.
“If this fight goes my way, it 100 percent should be in the cards,” Strickland said. “I f**king had a close decision with f**king… what the f**k was that guy’s name? Jared Cannonier, you knocked some brain cells out of me. Solid guy. Thought I won on the scorecards, but it is what it is. I truly believe I should be the one fighting Izzy, but I lost fair and square. I’ll pay my tenants. I’ll get some Ws, but yeah, that one needs to happen.”
No to long rest
Looking at the current middleweight rankings, Strickland is at No. 7 and could’ve landed a ranked opponent in the future. However, “Tarzan” said he’d rather fight anybody ASAP than wait for too long as he isn’t one of those guys who “protect their rank.”
“It should have been me and [Paulo] Costa, for sure, hands down,” Strickland revealed. “I had no fights. They asked a couple top-10 guys. I’m not gonna say any names, but they all said no. So, the UFC gave me a choice, you sit on the bench for like six months until somebody opens up or you f**king fight, and I said I want to fight. Let’s make some money.”
“People make too big of a deal out of this man, I can go fight someone in the parking lot you know just because it’s in the cage, people make too big a deal,” he added. “It comes to guys protecting their rank for instance, all the guys that said no to me you know, guys want to protect their aank and I mean that’s cool but I’m here to make money, so let’s scrap.”
Strickland will be coming in hoping to pick up where he left off, having won via unanimous decision over Nassoudine Imavov earlier this year. Magomedov, meanwhile, will try and secure his second win under the UFC banner.
