Sean Strickland got the job done in the UFC Vegas 47 main event. He knows full well that his performance against Jack Hermansson, a split victory over him was not the best.
Despite dominating the fight and sticking to his jab, Strickland explained that he never attempted Hermansson’s offensive advances.
” I let the pressure get to me,” Strickland said at UFC Vegas 47 after-fight press conference. “I knew I was better than him. He was a better fighter than me, you guys. Although he was not my favorite fighter, he was definitely a man I could have finished. However, he shouldn’t have been as bloody or messed up following the fight. But he didn’t.
“That’s because I took my foot off the gas. I just coasted through that fight. It’s not like I tried very hard. It kind of sucks but it is what it is. This is what you get as a p*sy. .”
No bonus
Competing in his second consecutive main event, Strickland was also seeking his fifth straight win since moving up to 185 pounds, which undoubtedly puts him in the conversation as a potential title contender in the near future.
While he has largely downplayed those aspirations in the past, the 30-year-old middleweight, who now trains out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, admitted that he started to listen to his own hype.
“I get a lot of fancy f*ckers wearing suits and they come up to me and they start talking about title fights and things of that nature,” Strickland said. “You hear that all the time and you start thinking ‘do I really want to risk getting knocked out when I could go for a title fight?’
“I let the suit-wearing people frighten me a bit, but that won’t happen again .”
While Strickland is fond of talking about his violent tendencies and how fighting provides an outlet, he also makes a living from the time he steps foot on to the octagon. Under his current contract, he is being paid a show and a win bonus, but only gets half of that money if he walks away with a loss.
“They start talking about bonuses and wins and half my pay,” Strickland said. “I want a title shot. “I don’t want a title shot.
“I’m going to see you guys in the hall and you’re going to act like you don’t f*cking know me anymore until the next time I fight. That is not what I want. You guys are my f*cking best friend. You guys only like me if I win!”
Regardless of his feelings about the performance, Strickland still managed to take out another ranked middleweight in a main event to win his sixth fight overall (including a welterweight win back in October 2018).
That should result in Strickland entering title contention at 185 pounds with reigning champion Israel Adesanya just days away from facing Robert Whittaker in a rematch at UFC 271.
Strickland believes Adesanya will win once again, and that this should make Adesanya’s case to be awarded the title.
“Unless [Jared] Cannonier wins [over Derek Brunson], [Adesanya] ran through the division,” Strickland said. “Let’s get some fresh blood in. “We don’t want another repeat.” Let one white trash momf*cker have a go .”
Of course, Strickland admits he’ll have a hard time waiting for a title shot if the UFC comes calling with an offer to take another fight in the interim.
“I’m a company man,” Strickland said. “I’ll suck that D. You want to f*cking pay me, I say yes.”
