Sean Strickland isn’t exactly satisfied with his next opponent.
Strickland On The Negotiations For His Next Fight
In an announcement that came out of left field, it was revealed that the #7 UFC Middleweight contender would be taking on unranked prospect Abus Magomedov. The German fighter is coming off of a successful UFC debut, where he defeated Dustin Stolzfus back in September.
Looking to fight for the title later this year, Strickland wasn’t intrigued by fighting Magomedov at all. Strickland would clear the air on how he got the fight, saying the UFC didn’t really leave him with much of a choice in the end.
“[The UFC was like] ‘I’m gonna fuck you with this guy with this no-name’, man,” Strickland told Helen Yee. “What’s his name? I like Abu better, the little monkey in Aladdin. So here’s the thing, you guys, I’m gonna speak straight with you. I always do, I’m honest. I try to be unless I’m trying to sleep with you. But I’m gonna speak straight with you guys cause I’m not trying to f*ck you guys.
“The UFC came to me and they said, ‘Sean, we asked a couple top 10 guys, they said no’. The UFC asked them, they said no. So they said, ‘we’re gonna be benching you for like six to eight months until somebody opens up or you fight this guy’. And I said, ‘UFC, that’s f*cked up, but I’d like to fight, I like to make money’. So I said yes and that’s here we are.”
Strickland Wanted To Fight Robert Whittaker
Some fans out there believe Strickland was shafted out of a middleweight title eliminator, which is now taking place between Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290. Strickland agrees with them and also thinks Whittaker will triumph over the streaking contender.
“A guy who almost died fighting retired Brunson or Whittaker? Whittaker is gonna walk through Dricus,” Strickland said of the matchup. “It should have been [me], this guy with the abs [vs. Whittaker instead]. It should have been this guy. The fans think it should have been this guy.”
Don’t Forget Paulo Costa
In addition to Whittaker, Strickland says he would’ve loved to fight arch-enemy Paulo Costa.
“No, it should have been that dirty Brazilian Paul Costa. Me and you. We should have did the f*cking man dance. I don’t know what the f*ck happened, dude. Who the fuck is Aliskerov? Me and Costa, we should have been f*cking fighting. We should have been fighting, dude. But you’re too busy playing games with the UFC, being a f*cking woman. And now you take this f*cking great fight that could have fucking happened and you f*cking ruined it, Costa. You ruined it.”
‘I Wanna Fight For The Belt’
It’s no secret that Sean Strickland wants to fight for the belt. Even with a title eliminator fight already booked, he truly believes he can steal the next title shot with a second-straight win over Abus Magomedov. Or third-straight, through the eyes of Strickland.
“Once I beat ‘Abu’, I wanna fight for the belt. I should have been fighting Whittaker,” Strickland added. “I fought like a b*tch, but I beat Cannonier. I mean, it was a b*tch thing. But on scorecards, I won. I’m salty, Cannonier. I like you, but I fought like a b*tch. I danced around, outpointed you and I lost. That’s what it is. But yeah, I would like to fight for a f*cking belt. Izzy, come on. F*cking Izzy with the titties, I gotta fight you.”
