Sean Strickland has dismissed old sparring footage shared by Khamzat Chimaev, after the Russian posted a clip online and claimed he was “bullying” the American.
On Saturday, Strickland will challenge his former training partner for the UFC middleweight title, as the pair headline UFC 328 in New Jersey.
Ahead of that bout, there has been a frosty build-up, with extra security seemingly employed to ensure the rivals do not clash before fight night.
Part of the build-up saw Strickland claim that Chimaev picks on weaker fighters at gyms, which the Russian referenced by sharing old footage of a spar with the American and the caption: “I am bullying weak people.”
Now Strickland has addressed the clip, in which there is almost zero action, by telling media on Wednesday: “That’s what I’m talking about, the guy’s just a little f***ing rat.
“One, I didn’t know we were filming. [Two,] those are our warm-up rounds.
“You’re just a weak man. You’re just a weak, weak man. It’s like: what is the point? We’re light sparring.
“We’ve only sparred once, and we did like a three-round spar. We sparred once; I kept telling you this. When I go to a gym, I want to spar the best guy. I want[ed] to spar him, but he would always just go beat up the lower-level guys.”
Strickland, 35, is a former middleweight champion, having dethroned Israel Adesanya with an all-time great upset in 2023 – only to lose the belt against Dricus Du Plessis four months later.
Strickland bounced back by beating Paulo Costa, but he lost to Du Plessis again last February, before “DDP” was dominated by Chimaev in August. Meanwhile, Strickland responded well by defeating Anthony Hernandez in February to secure his third title shot.
All of the above bouts were won and lost via decision except the most recent, with Strickland stopping Hernandez in round three.
Although many fans viewed Nassourdine Imavov as a more-deserving pick to challenge Chimaev, 32, Strickland talked up his own worthiness this week.
“I think it’s also a good fight, it’s a fun fight,” he said. “There’s so many people in the division where it’s like: what are the top five?
“Brendan Allen? [Chimaev’s] f***ing punching bag [training partner], his meat. What else in the top five in the division do you have right now?
“I think the fight just kind of made sense […] It’s kind of nice just to get a fresh look, new blood,” Strickland added, although he is not seen as “new blood” by many fans or pundits, given he is about to compete in his fourth title fight in two-and-a-half years.
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