Sean Strickland has once again taken to social media to clear up speculation that he ‘refused’ to fight fellow middleweight contender.
Sean Strickland‘s patience with the UFC is seemingly wearing thin, as he went on record a few weeks ago demanding the promotion give him a middleweight title fight rematch with Dricus Du Plessis.
The two met back at UFC 297 earlier this year where the South African narrowly won a decision, which was then refuted by Strickland.
Since then, rumors have circulated that ‘Stillknocks’ will defend his 185lb title against Israel Adesanya next at UFC 305 in Perth, and not in a rematch with Strickland, which Du Plessis has confirmed to be the plan.
Paulo Costa claims Strickland ‘refused’ to fight him at UFC 302
Middleweight contender Paulo Costa also suffered a loss recently, after Robert Whittaker handed him his third loss in four fights.
‘The Reaper’ was then booked to fight Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of the UFC’s inaugural event in Saudi Arabia.
Despite that, ‘The Eraser’ still finds himself near the top of the middleweight division, sitting in rank seven. Although Strickland desired an immediate title fight rematch, with that likely not coming to fruition, there aren’t many other options for him outside of ‘Borrachinha’.
The promotion recently announced its return to Newark New Jersey for UFC 302 on June 1st, and Costa wants in on that event.
Costa told Coach and Casual in a recent interview that he was offered a fight against Sean Strickland for UFC 302, but Strickland ‘refused’.
“The UFC suggested a fight against Jared Cannonier, it’s a nice fight, I love the idea of a fight with Cannonier, and they suggested that fight for June (UFC 302).
“But then two days ago, the UFC back and said ‘Paulo you fight Strickland on June 1st’. It’s a great fight, a fun fight more fun than Cannonier. Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened, Strickland said no. Strickland refused to fight me unfortunately that’s what the UFC told me.” Costa added.
Jared Cannonier hasn’t fought since his win over Marvin Vettori back in June last year, as he was seemingly waiting to see how the title picture unfolded.
Strickland issues a response to Paulo Costa’s claims
Despite the Brazilian’s claims that Strickland ‘refused’ to fight him, the former middleweight champion has provided a response on X as to why the fight didn’t get booked.
“Out of curiosity… What do you guys think I was offered to fight Costa on 7 weeks’ notice? Base contract…” Strickland asked on X.
A few fans commented their estimates of $500,000, to which he replied ‘way less’. One fan commented “$200k show, $200k win, $10k fight week incentive”, and the 33-year-old replied: “Close but less”.
After revealing that that’s the reason why he declined a fight with Costa on just seven weeks’ notice, ‘Tarzan’ went on to label the fighter pay as ‘cut-throat’, admitting that 99% of fighters will ‘never’ see a $1m in ‘their entire career’.
With the next middleweight title shot going to Israel Adesanya, Strickland will likely have to pick up a win in the meantime to cement himself as the next contender.
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