Surging middleweight contender Sean Strickland is eager to deliver Luke Rockhold a three-piece and soda, whether it happens in or out of the Octagon.
Strickland, who climbed to No. 8 in the UFC’s growing middleweight division with a recent main event win over Uriah Hall, has already been linked to a potential clash with Rockhold. Remember, Rockhold, a former UFC middleweight champion, announced his intentions to return to the sport over one year ago.
Rockhold, who has lost three out of his last four trips to the Octagon, is really in no position to pick and choose opponents. However, after learning about UFC president Dana White’s plan to match him up with Strickland, Rockhold revealed that he thought Strickland was a “idiot” and barely deserving of a matchup.
Of course, Strickland did not take kindly to Rockhold’s words and fired back in a feisty Instagram post earlier this week. Check it out below:
“All these things, they might be true,” said Strickland. “But I’ll tell you one thing: Me and you might never fight. I don’t care about fighting in the cage for ego reasons. I like to get paid at something I enjoy. But I’ll tell you f*cking one thing: You just can’t live in a radius of me and run your f*cking mouth and not expect for me to hit you in the face. We don’t need to fight, that’s fine. But I’m going to run into you at RVCA.
“I’m going to see you in the parking lot, and I’m going to walk up to you and smack you in the f*cking face, and you seem like the kind of p*ssy that runs his f*cking mouth and gets hit and then calls the cops. But you’re such a smug, cocky motherf*cker that I would probably take a misdemeanor charge just to smack you and watch your f*cking head bounce off the ground. So again, we don’t gotta fight. But don’t f*cking run your mouth because I’m going to see you again, and I’m going to smack you in the f*cking face.”
While it’s unlikely that Strickland and Rockhold will actually throw down outside of the Octagon it’s interesting to see both middleweights mix it up so much. Rockhold may not think that Strickland deserves the fight, but Strickland is doing a pretty good job at working the former UFC champion up. This may end up being the perfect matchup for Rockhold to return to.
What say you, Maniacs? Is Strickland vs. Rockhold the best matchup to make? Who do you give the early edge to?
Let’s hear it!