Sean Strickland says a lot of crazy things, and then often says the exact opposite a day later. So there was always a decent chance that his blow-up towards the UFC would be a temporary thing, and he’d settle down after getting a good night’s sleep and maybe a small bump to his champion’s pay.
That doesn’t seem to be the case, though. Yesterday, “Tarzan” was complaining about the UFC’s payscale and threatening to ‘nuke’ his contract with the promotion. Today, he’s still ripping into the company regarding their pay, saying the UFC doesn’t pay its fighters enough to retire — not even its champions.
“I fought for the title four times, I won it twice, beat all the boogeymen in the division,” Strickland said in a new Instagram video. “Hell, I fought half the division already, man. I want to box. I want to go put a f–king boxing title on my mantle. I deserve it. I don’t even do MMA, I just box.”
“I will put hands on any boxer. Jake Paul wants to give me a big, old bag of money to fight him. I’m under contract. Fine, I’ll go Zuffa. I’ll go beat your cruiserweight champ easy.”
That would be Jai Opetaia, two time IBF champ and current WBA, Ring and Zuffa world title holder. Jai is a perfect 31-0 in boxing while Strickland is 0-0, so we don’t know what world Sean exists in where he can bop in and beat Jai.
We may not agree with Strickland’s assessment of his boxing skills, but he’s pretty spot on with his latest indictment of the UFC’s pay practices.
“Let me tell you something about the UFC and I’m going to say the quiet part out loud that nobody says,” he said. “You’ll go, you watch these champions, right? These savages of the sport, man. They run the division, and they take an L and then they come back, and they just fight like three or four times. They get f–king flatlined. You’re like, ‘Dude, what happened to you?’ And you realize the UFC happened. They just don’t care anymore.”
“The UFC, they don’t pay you enough money to walk away like, ‘Man, life is f–king good. I’ve dedicated my life to this. I put the time in this.’ The UFC builds a legacy. They keep it right here, but they build a legacy, and they don’t pay you enough. So you have to come back and ruin your legacy. I don’t want to do that, man.”
But while Strickland doesn’t want to do it, he will if he has to.
“I’m just not in it anymore,” he continued. “I want to fight. I want to box. I want to go win a boxing title. So we’re trying to work that out. But if the UFC says, ‘Hey, we’re not going to do that. We’re going to make you fight.’ Well, I’m going to stick and move. You guys are going to boo. Hell, I’ll f–king boo with you while I’m doing it. Just stick and move, collect my check, and then move on. But I mean, hell, here we are.”
More bluster from one of the most blustery men in the UFC? Or is Strickland really ready to fight the worst damn fights ever to make a point about fighter pay? Sean’s bouts were already on the duller side of the spectrum before this threat. We’d hate to see what he has planned if he doesn’t get his way. And let’s be clear: there’s no chance the UFC lets him go fight in Zuffa Boxing. So what happens next? We see how committed Sean is to this bit.