It’s title shot or bust for Sean Strickland.
Months removed from his closely-contested championship loss to Dricus Du Plessis, the former UFC Middleweight Champion would like nothing more to run it back for the belt. Strickland has been steady in his title campaign and from the looks of it, he hasn’t lost faith in the UFC to eventually ‘do the right thing’.
The UFC fans want me and Dricus to settle it. Dricus wants to settle it. We all know I fought in a dirty liberal country who fucked me. Dana knows it. The UFC knows it.
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) March 28, 2024
IF IT WAS ANYONE ELSE ON THE ROSTER THE REMATCH WOULD HAPPEN! Do the right thing UFC.
Paulo Costa Says The UFC Approached Him About Fighting Cannonier & Strickland
However, the promotion seems to have other plans in store for Strickland as fellow contender Paulo Costa would point out in a new interview with ‘The Coach And The Casual‘.
“This is great stuff,” Costa said, when asked about his next matchup. “UFC suggests a fight with [Jared] Cannonier. It’s a nice fight. I love the idea to fight Cannonier, and it should suggest that fight for June. But then two days ago, UFC come back and say, Paulo, you fight Strickland on June 1.”
‘Strickland Say No, He Don’t Want To Fight Me’
It takes two to tango and Brazil’s Costa pins the blame on Strickland for not making the ‘fun fight’ happen at UFC 302 on June 1st in Newark, New Jersey.
“It’s a great fight. It’s a fun fight, even [more fun] than Cannonier, I think. Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened. Strickland say no, he don’t want to fight me. Strickland, he refused to fight me, unfortunately. That’s what UFC told me. I just have this information from UFC. I think this fight would be great, I would love to fight him.”
On paper, the #7 contender Costa would be a step down in the rankings for the #1 seed Sean Strickland. In terms of competition, the fight is much closer than it seems after what we saw from ‘The Eraser’ in his last fight against Robert Whittaker at UFC 298.
Even in a unanimous decision defeat, Paulo Costa managed to rock the former champion in of the most impressive performances of his career and proved he can hang with just about anybody in the middleweight division. That would explain why the UFC reached out to the former title challenger with such fights as Cannonier and Strickland.
But, both of those fights could be off the table for now as Cannonier is rumored to fight Nassourdine Imavov and Sean Strickland holding out for a title shot.
🚨MMA BREAKING NEWS: SEAN STRICKLAND REFUSED TO FIGHT PAULO COSTA JUNE 1ST AT UFC 302. ‼️
— The Coach And The Casual (@coachandcasual) April 8, 2024
"Unfortunately, I don't know what happened, Strickland said no."
"Strickland refused to fight me, that's what the UFC Told me"
-Paulo Costa#TheCoachandtheCasual | @RamseyNijem |… pic.twitter.com/akv9k7lMIM
