Sean Strickland has hailed the performance of friend Chris Curtis following UFC Vegas 90 and says that ‘The Action Man’ has earned a rematch with Allen.
UFC Vegas 90 took place last night and in the main event, top middleweight contender Brendan Allen improved his winning streak to seven with a split decision victory over Chris Curtis.
Chris Curtis stepped up on short notice with a FOTY contender
After a ‘freak injury’ forced middleweight contender Marvin Vettori out of his UFC Vegas 90 main event, Chris Curtis stepped up once again on short notice to save the card.
The contest ended up being a back-and-forth war for all five rounds, being dubbed a ‘Fight of the Year’ contender by both former light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill and top welterweight Belal Muhammad on social media.
Whilst Chris Curtis might have come up short with a razor-close split decision loss, the MMA fanbase has unanimously celebrated ‘The Action Man’ for both his performance and shape given the short-notice nature of his call-up – including his friend and teammate Sean Strickland.
Sean Strickland reacts to Chris Curtis’ razor-close decision loss to Allen
Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland took to social media to call for an immediate rematch between Curtis and Allen, given the short-notice nature of ‘The Action Man’ stepping in for the injured Marvin Vettori.
“They need a rematch with a full camp bottom line. That’s the right thing to do,” he wrote, adding in a later post: “Bro he lost to curtis coming off the couch lmao….. come on…… me and curt dont even spar lmao!!!!!!”
“As a friend of curt that score card is embarrassing lmao… I’m not saying because I’m his friend. He had his new born and just wanted a few months to chill out and he comes off the couch and out strikes a guy with a full camp.. embarrassing.”
Strickland claimed that the UFC filmed a session of sparring between the two as promotion for UFC Vegas 90, and that he had to “let him win” because “if I spar him remotely hard he will lose all confidence going into this fight [because] he’s so out of shape.”
“He was so out of shape and under prepared for this fight.. and still won.. You don’t say no to the UFC lol every UFC fighter knows that.. They say jump you say how high lmao.”
“No excuses but take zero pride in this victory,” celebrated the fan-favorite middleweight.
“Alright I’m done b****** lol we’re all grown a** men and we all make our own decisions.. Just run it back on a full camp, curt deserves that.”
Strickland is still looking for his next dance partner
In the aftermath of the UFC Vegas 90 main event, Allen called out both Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland as his next potential opponent, with ‘Tarzan’ arguably being the more likely candidate for his next bout.
“Yo where’s that title shot? What’s up Dricus you know I’m going to whoop that a**… 100% if I can’t get Dricus then Sean my man, let’s run it back – I got Sean then Chris back-to-back, now let’s get Chris then Sean.”
Strickland currently does not have a fight booked and is looking for a new dance partner, given the recent developments at the top of the middleweight tree with Adesanya vs du Plessis suspected to be the main event for UFC 305 in Perth, and Robert Whittaker set to face Khamzat Chimaev in Saudi Arabia.
One name that has only just been thrown into the hat is Chris Weidman, who earned a controversial victory last weekend at UFC Atlantic City.
Speaking on the Believe You Me Podcast, Michael Bisping said that a matchup between the two could help break the stalemate: “Give him Sean Strickland. Sean Strickland-Chris Weidman: ‘The All-American’ against ‘Here’s the thing guys’ American. Do it. I think that’s a good matchup.”
A reminder that next weekend is the enormous UFC 300 PPV, with 12 current or former champions scattered throughout one of the best cards in the sport’s history.