Sean Strickland is an anomaly.
2023 was the best year of Strickland’s career as a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. The 32-year-old Anaheim, California entered the year on the first and only losing streak of his 33-fight career (28-5). Ready to rebound on short notice, “Tarzan” kicked off his resurgent three-fight campaign with a unanimous decision win over Nassourdine Imavov before finishing Abus Magomedov (watch highlights) and taking the Middleweight title off of Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in September 2023 (watch highlights).
Strickland’s impressive run through his division last year earned him Fighter of the Year awards by several outlets throughout MMA and was one of the more unexpected outcomes in hindsight. Quite the character before reaching this point of stardom and success, the run took Strickland to a new level as data per Ticketgum has revealed the UFC champion had the biggest increase in Instagram following amongst all sports athletes in 2023. The chart can be seen below, displaying Strickland had a 3,781 percent increase in following.
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Ticketgum
Strickland will make his first title defense as UFC Middleweight champion when he takes on South Africa’s Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada this weekend (Sat., Jan. 20, 2024).
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 297 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPNEWS at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 297: “Strickland vs. Du Plessis” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.