Sean Strickland can easily get underneath people’s skin.
Would anyone have expected one of those people to be Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja? Well, added him to the ever-growing list.
The Flyweight division had a moment of worry towards the tail-end of Demetrius Johnson’s reign in 2018. Speculation built toward the notion that the promotion might axe the weight class altogether after Johnson’s dominant victories weren’t producing viewership. Therefore, criticism in general was thrown towards the fighters and Strickland hasn’t been shy to take shots at whomever he sees fit.
“I was very mad when Strickland said that for women and Flyweight guys,” Pantoja told Shakiel Mahjouri. “Shut your mouth. Respect my job. I put food on my table with that, are you crazy? Every Flyweight works so hard for that. That’s why everyone respects each other at Flyweight. It’s hard when you see someone say bad things about us because we work hard, it’s a very hard division, we need to be training 100 percent of the time. It’s not just about one punching, you need to be [with] good grappling, good cardio, good striking, good every place. That’s a hard division in the UFC.”
Pantoja, 34, looks to earn his second successful title defense when he competes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil against Steve Erceg at UFC 301 this weekend (Sat., May 4, 2024). Meanwhile, Strickland will try and return to the win column with a win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302 on June 1, 2024.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 301 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN2/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
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