For the first time in his mixed martial arts career, Sean Strickland was forced to make it all the way down to 185 for his first shot at UFC gold.
On Saturday night, Strickland will step into the main event spotlight at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia for a clash with reigning and defending middleweight world champion, Israel Adesanya. The pair will headline a stacked UFC 293 lineup, but before they could step inside the Octagon, both fighters would have to make weight for their highly anticipated showdown.
Despite knowing how difficult the weight cut can be for many fighters, the UFC made a questionable choice in having Strickland show up for an interview while still clearly exhausted.
“I can barely hear this guy, he’s cutting out,” Strickland said frustratedly at the beginning of the segment. “Ah, c’mon UFC! It’s ESPN, why aren’t we working?”
Once the technical issues were cleared up, UFC broadcaster John Gooden asked ‘Tarzan’ how he felt about the Australian people embracing him going into Saturday’s massive main event.
“The Australian government’s pretty soft. Sorry guys. This extra pound kinda sucks,” Strickland said while in the middle of cutting weight for his title fight. “It’s a little rough you guys, that championship weight. The Australian government kind of sucks, but the people here are stand-up hard guys, man. Everyone I’ve met here has been f*cking amazing.”
Clearly struggling to get through the interview, Daniel Cormier and Laura Sanko opted to not ask Strickland their questions, allowing him to focus on recovery after what appears to have been a very exhausting weight cut.
Sean Strickland could barely get through the weigh-in show interview due to the championship weight cut 😳#UFC293 #UFC #MMA
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) September 8, 2023
Fortunately, ‘Tarzan’ successfully made weight, meaning his title tilt with Israel Adesanya is good to go for Saturday night, or Sunday afternoon for those in Australia.
“That extra pound kind of sucked,” he added while taking a sip of water.
Even though he was clearly ailing from a strenuous weight cut, Sean Strickland still found the strength to take another dig at his opponent before wrapping up the interview.
“I’m going to go try to kill the Chinaman,” Strickland exclaimed. “Let’s get it done!”
Transcription by talkSPORT
