Sean Strickland isn’t too worried about his short-notice opponent, Nassourdine Imavov, in the main event of UFC Vegas 67 this weekend (Sat., Jan. 14, 2023).
Earlier this week (Mon., Jan. 9, 2023), it was revealed that Kelvin Gastelum had suffered an injury, forcing him out of his planned encounter with Imavov. Therefore, Strickland entered to save the day as the Middleweight tilt has now been bumped up to a Light Heavyweight clash.
Never shy to speak his mind, Strickland’s thoughts and concerns about Imavov are minimal, to say the least.
“If we’ve learned anything about the French, what’re the French best at? Giving up,” Strickland said at UFC Vegas 67 media day (h/t The Mac Life). “I haven’t really watched him fight, I know he likes to bang, he throws big punches, but he’s still f—king French, man. That’s a hard thing to move past. There’s a lot of history of cowardice to move on from when you’re f—king French. Maybe he’s gonna prove a statement, maybe he’s gonna say that his country’s finally left the cowardice behind, but I don’t f—king know.
“The only thing the French are good at is having fairs and giving up and losing fights, but we’ll f—king find out,” he concluded. “Maybe he’s different.”
UFC Vegas 67 will be Imavov’s first main event appearance after five bouts (4-1) in the promotion. For Strickland, he lost a split decision against Jared Cannonier in the final UFC event of 2022. A win for “Tarzan” snaps a two-fight skid dating back to UFC 276 in July 2022 when he was knocked out by the now-Middleweight titleholder, Alex Pereira (watch highlights).
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 67 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 7 p.m. ET.
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