Former middleweight champion Sean Strickland is making it clear he believes he is the only fighter who can beat UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev. Strickland is looking for matchups that will put him back in title contention and doesn’t hold back when discussing the UFC’s priorities.
Strickland, currently ranked No. 3 in the division, thinks a fight against Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez is the right path to get back into contention.
“I imagine me and ‘Fuffy’ might be going at it,” he said. “I don’t know, dude. I’d imagine that’s the fight to make.”
He explained how a win over Hernandez positions him for the fight he wants.
“I want to fight that little Chechen whore, so that’s kind of where I’m at. I want to fight somebody like Fluffy. Fluffy puts me in title contention. Especially him because all he does, he’s like the American fking Chimaev. So, you go and I just out wrestle that fker for like five rounds and then it’s like, alright, f**k you whore. Go beat your cans and then let me know when you’re ready. That’s kind of what I’m looking for. I’m looking for more fights that put me back in title contention.”
Strickland on how to beat Chimaev
For Strickland, the fight with Chimaev has become personal.
“I want to fight Chimaev. And you know, a lot of it feels like a personal vendetta because I’m the only fking one that beats Chimaev. Chimaev knows this. His camp knows this. Everybody fking knows this, dude. I’m the only one that fking beats you. I’ve wrestled with all the guys that he’s going to fight and he’s just going to fking steamroll them.”
He added why he thinks other fighters cannot beat Chimaev.
“I can’t stand fking Chimaev. I think what annoys me about Chimaev, there’s nobody that could beat him, you know, as like I’ve trained with all the guys he’s going to fight. I’ve trained with Chimaev. For one round, the guy can grapple. For one round, dude. Once you get over that one round of scramble, he just quits. It turns into a kickboxing match like what he did with Gilbert [Burns]. Once you, once he realizes he can’t like fking maul you and you don’t quit, he quits and it turns into a boxing match.”
Strickland also noted the lack of grappling experience among other contenders.
“I just don’t know if there’s anybody at that division other than me that like knows what it’s like to grapple those fkers. I’ve been training with those fking cave dwellers my whole fking life. These motherfkers live in this gym. It kind of saddens me that, you know, the Frenchman [Nassourdine Imavov] ain’t doing it. RDR [Reinier de Ridder] ain’t doing it.”
Critique of UFC’s direction
Strickland didn’t hold back when talking about UFC management and fighter pay.
“It’s so offensive, dude that there’s just so many fking Muslim. No, guys. Don’t even get me fking started on this sh*t. America, the UFC started in America by a Brazilian, but they’re kind of Americans.”
He also criticized the organization for outsourcing fights overseas.
“It just kind of annoys me too that like the direction the UFC goes, they just outsource. And like even this is moving forward, like I mean they just outsource UFC to these poor countries and these guys go fight for 10 and 10 on the Contenders and they go back and live in Rio and they just made 20 or 30 grand living like fking kings. It’s like you’re really limiting the U.S. market because you’re not paying these guys any money. So you’ve got little fking little Joachim Jackson who has a choice, go play fking football, or go be a UFC champion. That man’s going to go play football. Like 10 (thousand) and 10 dog. Like, what are you going to do, go pay rent for like three months? Then you’ve got to pay your coaches, your management. So it annoys me that we have outsourced UFC so much to these fking poor ass foreigners. The entire roster is from Durka-Durkastan.”
Strickland went on to question UFC’s priorities in promoting talent.
“At what point do you not give a fk. Once there’s no more Chuck Liddell’s, once there’s no more like Jon Jones’, so you really want to watch Ankalaev, Maga-maga-maga-maga-maga. I don’t give a fk, dude. I don’t give a f**k if you’re the best fight in the world. I’d rather go watch a hockey game and watch an American.”
He concluded with a warning about how athletes are treated.
“It’s hard because I love UFC, and I can’t complain because I’m in a position in my life that is so fking good. But it’s like they fk athletes, 100%. One-hundred percent they f**k athletes.”
Sean Strickland last competed in the Octagon in February 2025, suffering a close decision loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312.
