Tag: Sean Strickland

UFC middleweight contender Sean Strickland is set to battle former middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold, later this year, and the trash talk between the two of them are just beginning to ramp up.

Strickland is just days removed from his impressive unanimous decision victory over Uriah Hall at UFC Vegas 33 and is looking ahead quickly to his fight with Rockhold at UFC 268. While the fight hasn’t been officially announced, the fight is reportedly in the works and close to being signed and booked for Nov. 6 at a venue to be determined later.

It all started when Rockhold did an interview with MMA Fighting with the main point of discussion being his return to the octagon after a long layoff and brief tenure at light heavyweight. Rockhold roasted Strickland as a “fucking idiot” and a “nobody” just hours after the fight was first reported as in the works by TSN.

Strickland quickly responded via a post on his Instagram page.

“Me and you might never fight,” Strickland said. “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 fucking one thing. You just can’t live in a radius of me and run your fucking mouth and not expect for me to hit you in the face.”

“I’m going to see you again, and I’m going to smack you in the fucking face.”

Strickland has easily been the more active middleweight contender between him and Rockhold, who hasn’t fought since getting knocked out by Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239. Before that, Rockhold had lost two of his last three middleweight fights including an upset loss to Michael Bisping.

Strickland has been on a roll with five straight victories after an up-and-down start to his career at welterweight. He got his UFC opportunity after an undefeated run in KOTC to begin his combat sports career.

What is your way-too-early prediction for Luke Rockhold vs. Sean Strickland?

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold could make his highly-anticipated return to the octagon sooner rather than later after it was reported that he has been offered a bout with Top-10 middleweight contender Sean Strickland for a later date.

Rockhold has been on the sidelines for a while since announcing his intentions to not only return to the UFC but also to cut weight and return to the division that he once held the belt in.

Rockhold made a brief trip to light heavyweight where he lost against then-top contender Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239, just a couple of fights before Blachowicz became the UFC light heavyweight champion. The 36-year-old Rockhold lost two of his last three middleweight fights, including an all-time upset against short-notice replacement Michael Bisping.

UFC president Dana White has been looking for an opponent for Rockhold for months, and it sounds like he’s found a matchup with Strickland to be his return to the octagon. Nothing has been accepted or agreed upon on Rockhold’s side of things just yet, but that could come soon. White confirmed to TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter that the Rockhold vs. Strickland fight has been offered to both sides just days after Strickland’s unanimous decision win over Uriah Hall at UFC Vegas 33.

Luke Rockhold has been offered Sean Strickland as his next opponent per Dana White.

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) August 3, 2021

Rockhold has talked a lot in recent media interviews about the prospects of a potential fight with UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, saying that he is confident that he could give the reigning champion issues if the two were to cross paths in the octagon.

A win over Strickland would give Rockhold the clout that he would need to make another potential run at the belt, but a lot has changed in the division since he last fought. It is arguably a deeper, more talented division and the race for a shot at Adesanya is more crowded than ever before.

What is your way-too-early prediction for a fight between Luke Rockhold and Sean Strickland?