Orlando Sanchez addressed the viral video which flooded the internet earlier this week. For those out of the loop, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion had a falling out with UFC fighter Sean Strickland during a sparring session. Here, Strickland accused Sanchez of using a “dirty move” whilst wrestling. Whilst in a collar tie, Sanchez got what he referred to as a “quick little submission”, by using an unusual Mir Lock which resulted in Strickland screaming in what was a verbal tap.
At a Jiu Jitsu event just days later, Sanchez reflected on the issue and gave his side to the story. According to Sanchez, there was missing context from the video and viewers made assumptions about what went down. Wearing sunglasses and sporting cauliflower ears, he said “Man, it went viral for like three days. Millions of views over some dumb stuff. Firstly, everybody thinks this guy (Sean Strickland) was my training partner.
“I’d never met him before in my life. I had no clue who he was, nothing. This guy just kept talking rubbish. He just kept running his mouth. He said he’d do some wrestling rounds, so the coach was like “Do a round with Orlando!” He started talking stupid stuff about Jiu Jitsu and goes “regardless of who you are or what you’ve done, I’m still going to beat you up”. It didn’t bother me but I was like is he talking to me?” (H/T:FloGrappling)
With this said, it turns out that Sanchez wasn’t actually involved in some form of camp with Strickland. Instead, he randomly happened to be at the same gym as him. Not only this but there was definitely an element of trash talk from Strickland before sparring, according to Sanchez. As it happens, Sanchez is no stranger to MMA and has a 5-0 record as well as being a black belt in BJJ.
He also added, “I didn’t know he had a fight…nothing. He’s not my training partner, he was some guy saying he was going to beat my ass. It was nothing to hurt him, those that know me know I wouldn’t intentionally hurt a training partner. It’s not a dirty move, if you’re cranking it all the way up and not letting go then ok. I knew how far I pushed it, it went about two inches to wake him up and he had his reaction, but literally right after the video he apologized. I don’t hold anything though. People were making fake accounts, saying they wanted to kill my mom and wild stuff. It’s all good, it’s all love. You can’t expect to say “I’m going to beat you up” and not expect anything.” I got hundreds of messages saying he’s a bully and goes round beating people up.”
Of course, these are the words of Orlando Sanchez and Sean Strickland will possibly see things differently. Whether he comments on the matter is still unknown. However, what is known is that Strickland will face Uriah Hall on the 31st of July as the main event. By then, his arm should have healed and he will be looking to improve on his impressive 23-3 MMA record.