- Sean Strickland slammed the MMA community over too-late tributes to the deceased Stephan Bonnar
- “Tarzan” argued people should’ve helped the UFC Hall of Famer when he was still alive and not now that he’s already dead
Tributes poured in after The Original Ultimate Fighter Stephan Bonnar passed away this past Thursday due to heart complications. While everyone in the MMA community thinks it’s only proper to pay homage to Bonnar, UFC middleweight contender Sean Strickland isn’t impressed with the love and support their showing for the late MMA legend.
Why only now when it’s already irrelevant
Taking his bold thoughts on Instagram, “Tarzan” argued that it just irritates him to see people posting photos of Bonnar, saying they used to hang around with “American Psycho” in the past and their hearts go out to his family and friends. For Strickland, these people should’ve showed their support for Bonnar before he died and not after, because prior to his untimely passing, “American Psycho” wasn’t shying away from seeking help.
“Stephan Bonnar just died and like my Instagram feed, Google is like flooded with like pictures of like people, ‘hey this is me and Stephan Bonnar training. We’re buddies like we used to hang out back in the day. Like I’m gonna post a picture about him and get double-tapped likes.’” Strickland said in the video. “But like man, the Stephan Bonnar I knew, was f***ing nuts. He was addicted to opioids, he got arrested, got kicked out of a hospital because they wouldn’t give him opioids. His gym went under during Covid. And you know me, I’m an a**hole, Like I’m an a**hole, I’m not gonna post a picture and say rest in peace.”
“I’m an a**hole. But you f**king people that like after he died, you post pictures of him after he died in support and all this, like this man was losing his s**t. Where were you? And I’m not saying you had to be there for him, But you weren’t there for him then. Don’t be there for him now because now he doesn’t need it,” he continued.
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A tough year
En route to his abrupt death, Bonnar has been in a rough patch. He had his fair share of run-ins with the authorities and his struggles worsen when his health began to deteriorate as well.
In September 2021, it can be recalled that “American Psycho” appeared to be somewhat dependent to pain killers and a hospital refused to give him more of the said medicine which led to an altercation with the establishment’s security.
A few months earlier, Bonnar’s Nevada home was ruined by fire. The UFC Hall of Famer admittedly said he “lost everything” after the tragic incident and as it turned out, it was somehow true because everything went downhill spiral since then.
Bonnar will always be remembered for his legendary fights with Forrest Griffin, including their TUF Season 1 title fight. He fought 15 times under the UFC banner and shared the Octagon with some of MMA’s all-time greats such as Anderson Silva, Mark Coleman and Jon Jones. Bonnar last fought professionally at Bellator 131 in 2014 where he suffered a narrow split decision loss to fellow UFC legend Tito Ortiz.
On the other hand, Strickland is staying alive as he now lost his last two fights. The defeats over Jared Cannonier and Alex Pereira saw “Tarzan” losing his spot in the middleweight division’s top 5 and is now sitting at No. 7 in the rankings.
