Sean Strickland has options despite his loss to Dricus du Plessis earlier this year, but now he hopes now-former welterweight champion Belal Muhammad follows through with his past challenges.
Muhammad has fired shots at Strickland for the past year, and even called the former middleweight champ a “coward” following Strickland’s UFC 312 loss to du Plessis. When asked what he wants next, Strickland was reminded of Muhammad’s trash talk, especially now that Muhammad is no longer champ after losing to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315.
“Belal would be a fun fight, that’d be a fun one,” Strickland told Helen Yee. “Belal, you should f*cking sack up, dog. This is it. You can finally sack the f*ck up, dude. All that shit you talked, man, we can finally make it happen. Lost your belt, you kind of got f*cked up, I got f*cked up. We should make that fight happen, Belal. That’d be a good one, right?
“Well, you’re going to middleweight. I’m [230 pounds], I ain’t going down to welterweight. I’m not doing that cut anymore. That’d be a good one. … He said he would [come up to fight me]. All that shit he talks on the Instagram, he’s like, ‘Hey, I’m going to come fight you, I’m going to come do this, I’m going to come do that. Now you can, you f*cking p*ssy. Do it for Palestine.”
Strickland has lost two of three — both to du Plessis — after stunning Israel Adesanya to win his first UFC championship at UFC 293 in September 2023. The 34-year-old is ready to get back in the octagon, and says he had his eye on a fight with Reinier de Riddder following his stoppage win over Bo Nickal at UFC Des Moines.
Unfortunately for Strickland, de Ridder was booked against Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi in July. Strickland also said he was offered a fight against a top-ranked middleweight, but ultimately turned it down, as did the opponent, according to Strickland.
“I wanted to fight that RDR kid, but Mick [Maynard] wanted me to fight Caio [Borralho],” Strickland said. “Such a great guy. I said no. Well, we kind of both said no. It’s one of those weird things where it’s like I know him. I know his wife, I know his family.
“Like, at a press conference, ‘Hey Caio, how’s your baby doing? What, he’s turning two?’ It’s just awkward because I know [him and] his family. It’s not fun. …
“But that RDR… that would be a great one. You’re a jiu-jitsu [guy], you beat up Bo Nickal, who is a f*cking p*ssy. That’d be a great fight.”
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