Sean Strickland continues to make enemies with his outspoken, and often outlandish commentaries.
Earlier this month, he pummeled a popular online influencer, sent quasi-death threats to Jake Paul, and nearly got into it with Grammy-nominated music star Machine Gun Kelly. Now, the former middleweight world champion is picking a fight with the military. Specifically, U.S. Navy SEALs. In a video shared on social media, Strickland suggested that Navy SEALs — the U.S. Navy’s primary special operations force — couldn’t survive a week of training with him.
“I don’t think there’s one f*cking Navy Seal who could survive a week training with me,” Strickland said. “I’m kind of sick of seeing it, cause you guys think you’re badass, come train with me for a week. I’ll show you what’s up, I’ll f*cking break you.”
Catching wind of the comment, one U.S. Navy SEAL in particular decided to respond to ‘Tarzan’ in a now-viral call out, making it clear when they’re both called to action, the stakes are anything, but equal.
Navy Seal calls out Sean Strickland for challenging the Navy Seals.
pic.twitter.com/050fuccTuX
— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) February 22, 2024
“Sean we get it, you’re a badass bro. But check it out, your training partners get millions of dollars and they actually live. My swim buddies, they die every single year. Do you have any idea what the means? We’ve already proven that any kind of beatdown will not break us, but our training will simply just end your career, Sean. I’m talking about skin grafts on the thighs.
“You talk about taking people’s souls from their body. Well, me and my boys, we’ve actually taken a lot of real souls from people. You know what I’m saying bro? Your training is absolutely brutal man we get it, but your training doesn’t kill dudes every single year and that’s the world that we live in. My best advice for you, Sean, is to stay in the Octagon and keep fighting for that next purse and us SEALS will keep fighting for your freedom” (h/t BJPenn.com)
Sean Strickland Fires Back
Never one to let anyone get the last word over him, Strickland responded to the SEAL’s rebuttal in a not entirely surprising way.
“I made a navy seal upset, he said “we protect your freedom” I’m very pro military but anti government But to say “I protect your freedom” Yall need a history lesson on the federal government. Google Snowden and the constitution. The sand people aren’t taking away my freedoms,” Strickland wrote on X.
Sean Strickland is yet to book a return to the Octagon since surrendering the 185-pound crown to Dricus Du Plessis in their UFC 297 headliner. Recently, Strickland’s coach, Eric Nicksick, put his stamp of approval on a potential clash between ‘Tarzan’ and another former middleweight titleholder, Robert Whittaker.
Whittaker, who also suffered a loss to DDP last summer, bounced back at UFC 298 with a decision victory over the returning Paulo Costa.