UFC middleweight Sean Strickland has explained why he removed UFC peers Marvin Vettori, Darren Till, and Khamzat Chimaev from an Instagram group chat.
It’s fair to say that Strickland has cemented himself as perhaps the most controversial fighter in MMA, and certainly the UFC. “Tarzan,” who currently sits at #4 in the 185-pound division, has been more willing to speak his mind since rising the ranks on MMA’s biggest stage.
That openness has seen widely criticized remarks about homosexuals, an attack on “PC Beta-Male” Khalil Rountree Jr., comments about a desire to kill someone inside the Octagon, and even a recent Twitter suspension.
With all that in mind, who’d want to be in a group chat with Strickland behind closed doors? Well, an Italian, an Englishman, and a Chechen-born Swede.
During an interview with Helen Yee, Vettori revealed the Instagram group, which had been created for future sparring but ended up being a crazy place that was primarily used to jibe at Till.
“It’s funny, we would have a group that Sean Strickland did on Instagram. We were talking all kinds of sh*t on the group, and Darren Till and Khamzat were in it, too,” said Vettori. “(It was) usual to bully Darren a little bit in that group.”
However, it seems that the presence of the entertaining trio is no more, with Vettori going on to say that he’d been kicked out by Strickland.
“But they kicked me out, Sean Strickland… It was supposed to be like, a sparring group, then they kicked me out.”
Strickland Sends Message To Former Group Members: “F*ck You Guys”
In his own recent interview with Yee, Strickland confirmed that all three had once been apart of the group, but had all been removed.
“Tarzan” explained the decision to kick Vettori, Till, and Chimaev as being down to their exits from Xtreme Couture, with all three having enjoyed some time at the Las Vegas facility in recent months.
With no possibility of sparring each other, especially with Vettori suggesting that he wouldn’t want to throw down with a potential future opponent, Strickland saw no reason to keep the European entourage involved.
“They were involved, and then they left (Xtreme Couture), so they got kicked out. I kicked them out. ‘Cause it’s training partners only,” insisted Strickland. “You come here, you enjoy this beautiful environment, you come train here, and you leave, like, f*ck you guys. Go, bye Marvin. Go eat a f*cking pizza, go eat some lasagna. No, I actually love Marvin, he’s a good friend of mine.”
While Strickland is currently hard at work preparing to face kickboxing great Alex Pereira at UFC 276 next month, Vettori is training for his own middleweight clash against top contender Robert Whittaker, set for UFC Paris in September.
With both “Tarzan” and “The Italian Dream” occupying spots inside the top five, it seems likely that the pair’s unique relationship will eventually be surrounded by the Octagon steel.
Would you like to be in a social media group with Sean Strickland?
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