Sean Strickland is upset with the judging in his last UFC loss to Jared Cannonier.
UFC middleweight Sean Strickland is making a quick turnaround and returning to the Octagon this weekend. The first UFC event of 2023 was originally scheduled to be headlined by a bout between Nassourdine Imavov and Kelvin Gastelum. Unfortunately, a mouth injury to Gastelum forced him to withdraw from the fight and Sean Strickland has offered to step in.
Strickland last fought just four weeks ago in the last main event of 2022. He lost that bout to Jared Cannonier by split decision and is looking to bounce back into the win column.
Sean Strickland trashes the UFC judges and feels that they do not understand his fighting style
Strickland has now lost his last two bouts. Prior to the loss to Cannonier, Strickland was defeated by the current middleweight champion Alex Pereira. Strickland was interviewed by The Schmo prior to this weekend’s late notice fill in and he laid into the judges in his last bout. He feels that they did not score his fight correctly.
“Let me tell you something because judges are idiots. What you guys seen was a Mayweather style of fighting,” he explained. “I didn’t get f–king hit. I got a scratch on my nose. There is so much f–king perfection in that and you got stupid f–king judges and all they do is f–king, I don’t even know what they do. They probably don’t even watch the fights. They don’t know what the f–k they’re doing. They can’t witness greatness and be like, Oh, that’s greatness. They just see a scratch on the nose and be like I’m a f–king idiot, I don’t know what I’m doing. The guy threw a couple of kicks, he won.”
The state of MMA judging has been put under a microscope of late. Recently one judge, in particular, was called into question for a series of obscure scores in back-to-back events. These sorts of incidents have increased the call for better judging criteria throughout the sport.
Imavov is riding a three-fight winning streak. His last fight was a decision victory, but prior to that, he scored two, second-round TKO finishes. It seems that neither man is looking to utilize the judges on Saturday night and are gunning for finishes. Imavov is currently ranked 12th in the middleweight division while Strickland is in the number seven spot.
