Sean Strickland believes the UFC and their sponsors are trying to silence him.
On January 20, Strickland attempted to defend his middleweight title for the first time after shockingly dethroning Israel Adesanya. Unfortunately for him, Dricus du Plessis had other plans and executed enough to emerge victorious by split decision in the UFC 297 main event.
Since then, Strickland has called for an immediate rematch against Du Plessis after claiming his hand should have been raised. The former UFC 185-pound king recently did an interview with The Schmo to discuss his point of view about the situation.
Strickland had this to say about potentially not fighting Du Plessis next:
“I don’t really talk to the UFC much. All the UFC tells me is to shut up. You guys, let me tell you something about the UFC. I deserve that rematch [against Dricus du Plessis], and if they don’t give me that rematch, they’re just not one of us. If they don’t give me that rematch, understand it’s for one reason and one reason alone, they want me to shut the f*ck up. We will all know what will happen. We’ll find out.”
Watch Strickland’s interview with The Schmo below:
Sean Strickland blames the UFC’s sponsors for attempting to silence him
UFC CEO Dana White has stayed consistent with his support for free speech. Therefore, Sean Strickland doesn’t blame White for allegedly getting silenced for his opinions. Instead, the former middleweight champion accused the UFC’s sponsors, including Bud Light, of potentially holding him back from a rematch against Dricus du Plessis:
Strickland explained his theory during the previously mentioned interview with The Schmo:
“The thing about the UFC is Dana [White] is the definition of free speech. He supports it to such a degree, but the UFC is financed by Bud Light, you got all these massive corporations that even though Dana might be like, ‘Hey, I let Sean say whatever he wants,’ there’s a lot of very wealthy people telling him to shut me up.”
Strickland continued:
“Not just shut me up, shut you guys up. You have to understand, everything I say is things you say. Everything I say is what the UFC fans say. Anytime they reprimand me, understand they reprimand you. So, if I don’t get that title shot, we all know we need it, we all know we want it, the UFC wants it, the UFC fans want it. If I don’t get that title shot, just f*cking cracking the whip, that’s all they’re trying to do.”
Dricus du Plessis plans to take his time and recover from lingering injuries before fighting again. Although nothing is confirmed, ‘Stillknocks’ believes his first UFC middleweight title defense will be against Israel Adesanya, who hasn’t fought since losing against Sean Strickland in September 2023.
Watch Du Plessis discuss what’s next for him below:
Dricus Du Plessis doesn’t want to fight “too soon” in order to let some injuries heal, and says ideally he fights twice in 2024.
He also believes his next fight will be against Israel Adesanya.
“[Israel] you claim you want to drag my carcass around in South Africa, so be a man… pic.twitter.com/sW21l35glj
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) March 19, 2024
