As far as UFC champions go, has there ever been a paradox quite like Sean Strickland?
After yet another seemingly impossible upset, is Sean Strickland the antihero of the UFC? Depends on which version you want to see.
One of the dozen dramas going into UFC 328’s middleweight title fight between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland centered on whether we might see a post-event incident, à la the infamous Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov (vs. Dillon Danis) fracas after UFC 229.
If you’ve followed Strickland’s career at all, you probably knew that, win or lose, such a thing was improbable. Though Strickland has a way of alienating his audience through measures of disrespect in the lead-up to a fight ( as he did once again in this one ), he turns downright vulnerable after the therapy session of fighting itself. He becomes broadly apologetic to any (and all) offended parties.
One might even say, he becomes almost gentlemanly. That’s because nobody unloads his burden quite like Strickland in the cage. Nobody makes you look deeper into the psychology of a fighter like he does, either.
Strickland’s fights are as psychiatric as they are physical. When it’s done, it’s as if he’s a changed man. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, as they say.
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