Sean Strickland delivered verbal lashings upon arrival earlier tonight (Fri., Dec. 15, 2023) at UFC’s 2024 seasonal press conference live on YouTube from Las Vegas, Nevada, which included an explicit attack on UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley.
Strickland, O’Malley, and a collection of other UFC stars joined on stage for a seasonal press conference Friday night to help promote upcoming matchups in Q1 of 2024. There was some bad blood at the presser and it was only a matter of time before someone said something they weren’t supposed to. Leave it up to Strickland to break the silence.
As the crowd was showing clear favoritism for O’Malley over Marlon Vera, who meets “Sugar” in a rematch at UFC 299 for the bantamweight title, Strickland decided to jump on the microphone to defend “Chito.” A few things were said it prompted O’Malley to throw shade at Strickland.
Sean Strickland and Sean O’Malley go at each otherpic.twitter.com/j1JVqnFZJP
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) December 16, 2023
“At least my dad didn’t f—k me,” said O’Malley.
That, of course, lit a fire under Strickland and prompted a profanity-laced rant against “Sugar.”
“Oh this fucking guy, man,” responded Strickland. “UFC, whatever happened to you guys? We used to have real men. And now we got the f—king clown over here. Guy’s a f—king clown. He ain’t a f—king man.
“Go and let dudes f—k your wife. This is f—king crazy, bro. We need to bring back men to this f—king sport. Dana, what happened?”
Luckily, UFC president Dana White cut Strickland off and asked reporters for another question. Who knows how long the UFC middleweight champion would have ranted about O’Malley and the current state of “real men” competing in mixed martial arts (MMA).
This was an unexpected turn to say the least, but one that creates even more buzz around Strickland and O’Malley’s title defenses early next year.
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