According to the American, while walking around Sydney, he was approached by a fan who began to insult him, and Strickland stopped the flow of profanity with a punch to the stomach.
“Boom, charged him right in the belly!” the American middleweight told reporters about his first impressions of the Australian continent. “I’ve only been in Australia for a day and I’ve already had an attack. At first I thought the guy wanted to come up to take a picture. Because I don’t have a problem with that – anyone can come up to me to take a photo, I love the fans.”
“But if you come up to me to open your filthy mouth, you’ll get what’s coming to you from me – an uppercut to the bellybutton. I hit him and walked away. If I ever see this guy again, I think I’ll thank him for not pressing charges. The trouble is, we live in a world where people open their mouths on the internet and in person without fear of any repercussions.”
Strickland also responded to a question about what he would do with the championship belt he is set to take away from the Nigerian this weekend.
“I’ll probably auction that shit off if somebody wants it.”
As a reminder, the middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland will be the main event of UFC 293, which takes place on September 9 in Sydney.