Sean Strickland has taken more shots at the coaches/significant others of Rose Namajunas and Aspen Ladd.
UFC women’s bantamweight Aspen Ladd’s relationship with her coach Jim West went under public scrutiny last year when West chewed out Ladd between rounds of her loss to Norma Dumont last year at UFC Vegas 40. His tone was considered so harsh that many people spoke out against West’s treatment of Ladd, including Miesha Tate.
Tate said that she was speaking from her own personal experience of what it can be like in a relationship with a coach/trainer and that she can recognize the signs of abuse. Ladd dismissed Tate’s comments as attention-seeking and later said that she’d be willing to fight Tate for free.
There have been no further stories regarding Ladd’s & West’s relationship since West apologized for his conduct in Ladd’s corner last October. Nevertheless, Strickland was inspired to send out the following tweet Thursday.
“Sooooooooooo I’m pretty sure @TheAspenLadd is suffering from Stockholm syndrome…….. lmao!!!!!!!!I didn’t really care about the corner
video but when you add some other facts to the situation it’s a little fucking creepy lmao!!!”
Strickland would then post a follow-up tweet to lend more insight into the information that prompted his initial tweet.
“Women are very easy targets for male coaches, automatically assume weird father role which turns into a hero worship complex. The fact you started to train with him at what 12? 100 percent grooming sexual predator. Tell me my facts are wrong and I’ll apologize now. @TheAspenLadd“
Strickland would close by also referencing Rose Namajunas’ relationship with Barry. The couple has a 13-year age gap between them and reportedly met when Namajunas was 14 years old and Barry was 27.
“Is Jim West and Pat Berry (sic) the Weinstine of MMA? Or is Michael Jackson a better comparison…@netflix is currently contacting @TheAspenLadd and @rosenamajunas for a TV series lol!!!!! OK, I’m done gotta spar..” Strickland concluded.
Update: Sean Strickland Doubles Down On “Predator” Criticisms
Strickland has not let up on his criticisms of Barry and West. This week, he made Barry the primary focus of his vitriol.
“This showed up on my Twitter feed… Looks like they met on Jeffery Epsteins island…. Bro you been on the Lolita express?!? @HypeOrDie“
“OK I’m done making fun of Pat the PREDATOR Barry. Rose followed me on IG once so naturally I slid in her DM’s. I didn’t know she had a umm what would you call him?? A groomer? Idk either way I won’t touch this again, hopefully Pat will do the same when he’s around children..”
Strickland would then make it clear that he has not forgotten about Jim West.
“Age really is just a number. @gloverteixeira didn’t let the doubters put him down when he won the belt at 42. “Too old” “washed up” And don’t forget JIM WEST and Aspan “Jim she’s 14” “Jim you’re going to go to prison” “Jim you can’t groom a child” Way to beat the odds Jim.”
Ladd is coming off a second consecutive loss, this time to Raquel Pennington who defeated Ladd at UFC 273 via unanimous decision. This made for the third defeat in four fights for the 27-year-old.
Rose Namajunas will be competing at this weekend’s UFC 274 when she puts her strawweight title on the line against Carla Esparza. Neither Namajunas, Ladd, nor their coaches/partners have directly addressed Strickland’s remarks.
In Namajunas’ case, she may very well be unaware of Strickland’s comments seeing as how she goes out of her way to stay off of social media whenever possible. This week, in particular, it could serve as an unneeded distraction for her.
As for Strickland, he has enough to worry about with his professional life, as he will be taking on rising hype train Alex Pereira this July at UFC 277 in a bout that many believe could serve as a middleweight title eliminator.
What do you make of Sean Strickland’s remarks about the relationships of Aspen Ladd and Rose Namajunas?
Continue Reading Strickland Doubles Down On Criticisms Of ‘Sexual Predator’ Coaches at MMA News.