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Gordon wants another crack at Pimblett after UFC 282. 

With the controversy around the ending of their fight at UFC 282 on Saturday, Jared Gordon wants a rematch with Paddy Pimblett.

Gordon lost to Pimblett by unanimous decision, causing a stir among most fans, fighters and media alike, who agreed the ‘Flash’ was robbed. The ‘Baddy’ disagreed, and told UFC commentator Joe Rogan that he ‘won the first two rounds pretty easily,’ so there should be no controversy. To settle it, Gordon proposed he and Pimblett share the Octagon again.

“With all the controversy with our fight, I’d love to run it back with you in London [Paddy Pimblett],” wrote Gordon on Twitter. “I have no ill will towards you, as a matter of fact, I really like you. [Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy] maybe we can all work together and between Paddy and I, there’s no way we can’t help others and we can beat each other up again in the meantime for everyone’s entertainment!

“The people want it, and we can settle this on your turf,” continued Gordon.

Gordon received a response from Portnoy, who signed Pimblett to a seven-figure sponsorship deal a year ago. The Barstool Sports president wrote he would ‘love to see this fight again,’ especially since he predicts his athlete to go 2-0 against Gordon.

The next UFC event in London is UFC 286, the pay-per-view scheduled for March 18, 2023, at the O2 Arena. Though Pimblett appeared on the past two UFC events at that exact location and venue, there is a possibility he misses out on the third one.

In a video uploaded to his official YouTube channel, Pimblett revealed he might have suffered a few injuries in his recent appearance.

“The next few months depend on how this ankle is,” said Pimblett. ‘We’ll see. I’ve gotta get this MRI’d on Monday, same with my hands, because Jared’s got one of the hardest heads I’ve ever hit. But, you know, we crack on. We’ll see if I can get back in the cage before my wedding in May. I hope I can. As you know, I like being active, so we’ll see.”

Pimblett improved to 4-0 in the UFC with the win over Gordon.

The presser (eventually) gets underway at 31:07.

KSI and Dillon Danis were scheduled to have their kickoff press conference on Thursday to help promote their upcoming boxing match, scheduled for the Misfits Boxing Series 004 headliner on DAZN from inside OVO Arena Wembley in London, England, on Jan. 14, 2023.

Danis blew off the press conference and left KSI flying solo.

“In terms of Dillon Danis not being here at the moment I think it’s quite disappointing, disrespectful to me and everyone who’s here expecting him to show up,” KSI said. “But it’s not something I haven’t seen before, same thing happened with Alex Wassabi.”

Maybe the travel cops who detained Tommy Fury also went after Danis.

“We were meant to fight and he obviously flaked, I don’t know, maybe it’s my presence, maybe it’s just me in general, I’m such a scary guy,” KSI continued. “I can understand that I’m very disciplined, very focused and if you look at my resume I don’t lose too many times. So, I think for Dillon that’s probably seeping in.”

Or perhaps Danis is still recovering from this whooping in Texas.

“I know he’s undefeated himself, but I think looking at me in the eyes even when we saw each other in Texas I could tell it was all a facade,” KSI said. “He had to pretend that he’s bigger and stronger than he actually is and it kind of shows, him not being here, shows how little he really is, how small his mindset really is. He says I’m not a real fighter but I’m always here, always ready and he is a ‘real fighter’ but he has not made the plane trip to see me. He’s not made even the zoom call to see me, he’s terrified, petrified of me.”

Danis has yet to comment on today’s absence.

Veteran scrapper, Sean Strickland, will square off opposite knockout artist, Jared Cannonier, this Saturday (Dec. 17, 2022) at UFC Vegas 66 inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Strickland enters this fight is an unusual position: as the butt of the joke. Fight fans around the world were shocked when Strickland purposefully struck with Alex Pereira, and the general reaction was the exact opposite of surprise when Pereira flattened him in the very first round. Why did Strickland stand with the nastiest knockout artist in perhaps the entire sport? Because he’s CRAZY! Lost in all the hubbub is the simple fact that Strickland remains a very talented Middleweight, even if he made some dumb decisions against Pereira (more on that later).

Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:

Striking

Strickland has really proven his striking skill since his move to Middleweight. Strickland may have a bit of an awkward, flat-footed style, but consistent offense and excellent defense are responsible for his rise into the Top 10.

He’s a boxer first and foremost. All the way back early in his UFC career vs. Luke Barnatt, Strickland showcased a solid jab. He’s still using that probing strike to find his distance and do damage, but Strickland’s hands have been exceptionally loose in recent performances. As a result, he’s really snapping the punch, which is why seemingly innocuous connections are bloodying up the nose and convincing his foes to back off. Strickland doubles up the jab well and will often follow with his right hand.

In his recent wins, Strickland has shown how he can employ his boxing skills in various situations (GIF). Against Brendan Allen, for example, Strickland did tremendous work from the back foot. Allen stalked his foe, looking to establish his own jab and kicks. The low calf kicks were definitely an issue — they usually are against a jabber like Strickland — but the Californian did do a nice job of intercepting Allen’s jab with his own. In addition, he helped avoid the low kicks by scoring a takedown off one early in the bout.

Having at least somewhat mitigated his foe’s primary range offense, Strickland was landing the better shots, encouraging Allen to push forward even harder. Despite his reputation for flat-footedness, Strickland actually changed directions really well once in the pocket. He’d wait for Allen to throw then evade at an angle, often stepping to his left behind a check left hook or intercepting right hook across the center line.

Allen landed some shots, but he consistently walked into harder ones while trying to force a scrap. Just as he started to pick up a bit of momentum with his low kicks, Strickland planted his feet and really sat on a counter 2-3 combination. Both punches landed clean, and Strickland swarmed hard to score the finish of a very bright talent (GIF).

In his next bout, Strickland walked Krzysztof Jotko down the entire fight. Initially, Strickland was having trouble getting his jab going and walked into left hands, but he soon made smart adjustments. He began leading with his cross and following up with the left hook, which can often catch Southpaws blind.

Jotko was avoiding the pocket and staying evasive, which forced Strickland to kick more often. He first established a front kick up the middle with his right leg. Then, Strickland began targeting the lead calf with switch kicks. Throughout the second half of the fight, Strickland was lifting his knees in marching steps, keeping his foe confused on which strike was coming and helping him to land more and more significant calf kicks. The slower Jotko’s feet grew, the more Strickland touched him with punches.

Finally, Strickland defeat Uriah Hall primarily by out-jabbing “Prime Time,” which is no easy feat. Hall’s best weapon is his jab, a powerful tool that capitalizes on his massive reach. Despite this, Strickland was able to outwork him with his own lead hand for a number of reasons.

For one, Strickland was throwing more jabs. Hall’s jab is a piston, but Strickland was likely throwing three jabs for each of his opponents — the simple numbers game counts for quite a bit. In addition, Strickland was well-prepared for Hall’s jab, making the adjustment of sliding his right hand in front of his chin, keeping it there and ready to parry. As a result, he was able to fire back right away, further discouraging Hall from jabbing with him.

Many exchanges went something like this: Strickland flicked a jab, Hall attempted to answer with a power jab that was parried, and Strickland immediately fired back a jab or left hook of his own. Now, Strickland definitely got stung right on the nose a few times in the process, but winning the jab battle allowed him to keep Hall on his back foot and prevent many of his big swings before they happened.

Strickland’s defense has to be mentioned as a strength, even if it played into Pereira’s hands. Strickland really excels at parrying punches and checking hands while advancing. Even when shots do land, he does good work in rolling with them, and in general is statistically one of the more difficult to hit men at 185 lbs. Unlike the vast majority of MMA fighters, Strickland is generally comfortable and competent at seeing punches in the pocket, likely a testament to the mass amounts of sparring Strickland tends to do.

Strickland’s ability to parry shots and fire back — on the counter or lead foot — is a core component of his game. It’s pretty much what makes Sean Strickland who he is as an athlete. Though adding takedowns into his attack would’ve been wise, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Strickland remained true to his style against Pereira. Going against elite opposition and only bringing one’s B game to the table is a difficult prospect, even if Pereira’s left hook demanded an adjustment.

Wrestling

Strickland’s bouts tend to end up kickboxing battles more often than not. He’s definitely opportunistic with his ability to gain top position. For example, two of his more recent takedowns came from catching a kick from Allen and hitting a switch on Court McGee — reacting to his opponent’s offense. It may not usually be a main aspect of his game plan, but Strickland has been pretty nasty with top strikes when able to get on top.

Against Hall, Strickland was more active with his attempts to ground his opponent. He shot for a few double legs along the fence and did find an outside trip in the open, but much of his success came when Strickland was able to get behind Hall. From that position, Strickland dragged his foe down several times, even throwing in a hook standing to help trip his opponent to the canvas.

Defensively, “Tarzan” has defended an impressive 80 percent of the takedowns that have come his way. Often, Strickland will use the fence to defend, leaning against the cage and spreading his legs wide. He does a nice job of hand-fighting from this position, preventing his opponent from locking up the double and keeping him stuck on one leg.

In the last five years, only Kamaru Usman has managed to take down Strickland.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Strickland has secured four wins via tapout in his professional career, but his sole submission inside the Octagon came in his UFC debut vs. Bubba McDaniel. That performance was a great demonstration of how important strikes can be to MMA grappling exchanges, as Strickland pummeled his foe with elbows and punches to convince McDaniel that giving up his back was a good idea.

It was not. Strickland has attacked the back in other bouts, but it has not yet resulted in another rear-naked choke finish. He did manage to do big damage to Hall from top position as well, convincing him to give up his back before the clock ran out.

Fortunately, Strickland has yet to be submitted inside the cage, either. He did scramble with a grappling specialist in Igor Araujo quite a bit back in the day, holding his own with the jiu-jitsu black belt and never winding up in trouble.

Conclusion

Strickland is a very consistent Middleweight, which is uncommon. He has consistently strong defense on the feet and on the canvas, and he combines that skill with an ability to push the pace and wear on his opponents. Whether he can implement his style against a second-consecutive knockout threat in Cannonier remains to be seen, but Strickland should be expected to fight like usual.

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Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 66 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 7 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 66: “Cannonier vs. Strickland” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

Another Sean Strickland media scrum is in the books, which was filled with a ton of quotable quotes, as per usual.

Thanks to his colorful persona, Sean Strickland has been drawing headlines while also getting himself in higher-profile fights. This weekend, he will headline UFC Vegas 66 against Jared Cannonier. It will be the organization’s final event for 2022.

As per usual, “Tarzan” was in rare form during his pre-fight media scrum on Wednesday. Among his many interesting takes is the parallelism he drew between his chosen career and those in the adult film industry.

“Porn stars. What’s the difference?” he asked the media.

“We f—ng diet, we get really f—ng skinny. A couple of us get abs. We wear these tight little outfits, little f—ng spandex, with our little cock bulge and our cup. And we go out there, we take our f—ng clothes off, and fight in front of thousands of people.

“Then these people are like, ‘yeah, f—ng punch him in the face! Take him down! F—ng dry hump him! Twist his dick!’”

The conversation began after a reporter asked Strickland about a response he gave to MMA veteran Josh Thomson, who was discussing how fighters are treated in the UFC.

“I didn’t know that in the business of ‘Hey, I’m gonna take human beings and make them fight for money,’ if giving a f—k about them was part of the job title,” he said, explaining his response.

“Like, if I’m the CEO of the UFC, and I’ll be like, ‘Hey, what big, scary motherf—rs can we pick to fight each other?’ And afterward, I’m like, ‘But you know, man, I hope they’re having a good Christmas. I hope life is good for them…’

“No, we’re f—ng cattle.”

Strickland eventually clarified that he does enjoy what he does for a living. But he also prides himself on having a better grip on reality.

“I love my job, but I’m not gonna go looking in a f—ng mirror and think I’m like some f—ng… I’m Lebron James. I’m not.

“I’m a f—ng prostitute. I take my f—ng clothes off, Dana says go fight that guy. I’m like, ‘alright, Dana. How much?’ And he gives me a number, and I’m like, ‘F—k it, let’s go, Dana! I’ll fight that motherf—r!’

“I’m not disillusioned with what I am.”

As for his opponent, Strickland also had something to say.

“‘Killa Gorilla,’ you know? F—ng scary name. How nice would it be if his nickname was Curious George? Oh f—k yeah! That would be nice.

“You got the Killa Gorilla. Let’s f—ng go. He sounds like a scary motherf—r, dude. Sounds like I don’t want to share a cell with that guy.”

UFC Vegas 66 happens on Saturday, December 17, at the APEX.