Nina-Marie Daniele is ready to see her favorite UFC fighter take back the middleweight title.
Daniele, also known by MMA fans as Nina Drama on social media has developed a close relationship with Sean Strickland in recent years. The two have routinely taken friendly digs at one another and even engaged in a Roman Candle battle that nearly saw ‘Tarzan’ lose a nipple.
Recently, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that Strickland is the next man in line for a title opportunity, likely facing the winner of his Saturday’s UFC 305 headliner between defending champion Dricus Du Plessis and two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya.
Reacting to the news, Daniele echoed one of Strickland’s sentiments when it comes to the fight game.
”To the death,” Daniele wrote in resonse to the news.
How did Nina Drama and Sean Strickland become such good friends?
As for how Daniele and Strickland came to be close friends, we’ll just let the model-turned-UFC interviewer explain.
“In the first interview we ever did, Sean called me a wh*re and said I slept with Jon Jones for the interview and I told him he gets a chub while sucking in the souls of his opponent by submitting them from behind. It’s been history ever since. The two most unlikely people to become friends LOL. @SStricklandMMA is a real one!”
Strickland first claimed the middleweight title with a lights-out performance against Adesanya at UFC 293 last September. Unfortunately, his reign would be cut short after Du Plessis landed a razor-close split decision win over Strickland in January to take the belt back to South Africa.
Failing to lobby for an immediate rematch, ‘Tarzan’ was paired up with perennial contender Paulo Costa at UFC 302 in June. Though the scorecards were once again split, the consensus had Strickland clearly winning the fight and solidifying his spot as the division’s No. 1 ranked contender.