“Why Canada!!!?!,” the American wrote on social media. “GSP, you got this de***ing thing going on dude! No guns, no free speech… UFC you gotta be kidding me!!!?!?!”
In doing so, Strickland made it clear that he once again had to save a numbered show, with only the fight for the vacant UFC women’s flyweight championship belt between Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva on the card.
“Well, it’s time to bring some freedom to Canada,” he added. “I didn’t want to fight in January, but they asked me to help a couple women do their job. And they’re also calling me sexist.”
Despite the fact that Dricus Du Plessis knocked out Robert Whittaker in his previous fight and is ranked second in the division, the organization of the title fight is largely unexpected, as Sean Strickland’s next opponent was supposed to be Hamzat Chimaev, who defeated Kamara Usman in a challenger’s match at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi.
The Chechen fighter, who injured ligaments in his hand in a confrontation with the Nigerian, probably won’t recover in time for January, and besides, the organization’s management is likely saving the fight involving “Borz” for a bigger event.
After beating the Australian, Dricus Du Plessis refused to fight Israel Adesanya, citing a leg injury, and gave up his title shot to Sean Strickland, who took the title from the Nigerian at UFC 293 in Sydney, defeating the champion in dominant fashion by unanimous decision.