Whereas many within the UFC group could be stunned by Strickland’s determination to attend for his subsequent battle, the choice got here naturally to the California native. From the seems of it, ‘Tarzan’ desires one other shot on the middleweight title as quickly as potential and received’t budge for anything.
The previous UFC middleweight champion misplaced his belt to Dricus Du Plessis in what was a neck-and-neck battle. Strickland’s largest mistake was not pushing for a rematch arduous sufficient, since he had a proper to it because the battle was so shut. As a substitute, he settled for a bout in opposition to Paulo Costa, and now Isreal Adesanya jumped the queue to face Du Plessis.
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Sean Strickland made it fairly evident that he nonetheless deserves the title shot together with his dominant win over Paulo Costa. Furthermore, in a current tweet, the previous champ revealed why he doesn’t wish to battle Robert Whittaker and is selecting to attend it out as a substitute,
“I preserve getting requested to battle whittaker. I beat Izzy, the world is aware of I beat dricus. Whittaker misplaced to each. I’m the #1 contender, I defended that spot simply in opposition to Costa. I’ll wait…..”
I preserve getting requested to battle whittaker. I beat Izzy, the world is aware of I beat dricus.
Whittaker misplaced to each.
I’m the #1 contender, I defended that spot simply in opposition to Costa.
I’ll wait…..
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) June 25, 2024
Whereas Strickland believes he defeated Du Plessis of their first encounter, he now desires the latter’s bout in opposition to Israel Adesanya to play out usually. Nevertheless, what ‘Tarzan’ doesn’t notice is that this battle will take a very long time.
The pair are preventing on August 18 at UFC 305, however naturally, the loser of the battle will ask for a rematch and can most likely get it. This is able to imply that Strickland will get the title shot subsequent 12 months.
Within the meantime, Sean Strickland was not too long ago on trip in Japan together with his girlfriend. However even on trip, the previous champion discovered time to do his favourite factor on the earth.
Sean Strickland will get some ‘mind injury’ aka sparring work finished whereas on trip in Japan
Sean Strickland’s Japan journey together with his girlfriend appears to have been successful. The previous champ obtained to wind down after a grueling coaching camp and battle in opposition to Paulo Costa. Nevertheless, even whereas in Japan, Strickland launched a video of him sparring with a former Okay-1 champion, and captioned it saying,
“Nothing like some mind injury on trip haha. Sure I do know I’m fats. F*ck off lol”
Tarzan’s preliminary plan was to battle a samurai and a Sumo wrestler whereas in Japan, however he needed to accept a former Okay-1 champion as a substitute. Nonetheless, with sparring being his favourite type of coaching, Strickland was comfortable that he obtained some work in, even in the midst of a trip.