Sean Strickland teases he’d be willing to leave the UFC for boxing if the promotion fails to offer him an immediate rematch with Dricus du Plessis.
The ‘threat’ is the latest in a string of explosive posts shared by the former middleweight champion since his UFC 297 main event defeat back in January, as he called on the organization to book a rematch with the South African.
Strickland claims Canada threatened to pull him from UFC 297
The Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada, hosted the first PPV event of 2024 and in the marquee fight, Sean Strickland lost his middleweight title in a razor-close split decision to Dricus du Plessis.
Yet the judges’ scorecards were by far the end of the story, with Strickland calling out both du Plessis and the UFC on a seemingly daily occurrence since as he eyed an immediate rematch against ‘Stillknocks’.
“You know I don’t care about fight politics or a belt but it makes me laugh they give izzy a rematch to alex after getting slept..I lost a close decision that dana himself thought I won. Everyone did.. The stats did. That needs to be run back,” he wrote on social media.
In fact, Strickland would also claim that the Canadian authorities threatened to remove him from the card, despite him arguably earning the biggest cheers from the Toronto crowd during fight week.
Responding to one fan who said that no rematch offer ‘proves’ that he was robbed on the scorecards, ‘Tarzan’ said: “No man it is a fact… Trust me… Canada absolutely hated me and threatened to pull me.”
Sean Strickland teases move to boxing if UFC doesn’t offer rematch
This week, Strickland doubled down on his demands for an immediate rematch, calling for support from his fanbase as he suggests that ‘everybody knows’ that the right thing would be for the pair to run it back.
“The UFC fans want me and Dricus to settle it. Dricus wants to settle it. We all know I fought in a dirty liberal country who f**** me. Dana knows it. The UFC knows it. IF IT WAS ANYONE ELSE ON THE ROSTER THE REMATCH WOULD HAPPEN! Do the right thing UFC.”
Not wanting to fight down the rankings after such a meteoric rise in 2023, Strickland went as far as to suggest he’d be open to leaving the sport if the rematch doesn’t materialize:
“You know man I’m not climbing that f**** ladder again….. If that isn’t it for me idk boxing…”
Strickland is currently the #1 ranked middleweight in the UFC, although the allure of boxing is still there for the brash American given the potential opponents and purses involved.
“Yeah go make millions beating up Jake Paul lmao,” he later shared.
Adesanya could skip Strickland for a title shot thanks to UFC 305 news
The ‘threat’ from Strickland comes on the back of two enormous pieces of news for the middleweight division.
First, Robert Whittaker is set to headline UFC Saudi Arabia against Khamzat Chimaev in what Dana White promoted as a number-one contender fight.
Second, the UFC confirmed their return to Perth, Australia, for UFC 305 on August 17, with many fans expecting former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya to return on that card.
Regarding the latter, the New Zealand Herald also reported via inside sources that the UFC is already exploring options for Dricus du Plessis to face Israel Adesanya in Perth – which would leave Strickland in limbo as he awaits his next opponent.