Sean Strickland has fought twice in the last two months, and yet he’s already picking another fight.
The UFC middleweight contender is angling to fight former UFC title challenger Paulo Costa for his next outing. Strickland (26-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) called out Costa (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) on Monday in a video posted on Instagram.
“Yo, Costa, I think we should fight, bro,” Strickland said. “It f*cking makes sense, you know. I don’t know if you’ll be drunk or be able to make weight, eating cookies – let’s make this sh*t happen.”
Strickland is coming off a decision win over Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Fight Night 217. He took that fight on short notice the week of the event, and it was contested at 205 pounds. Prior to the short-notice bout, Strickland fought in the final UFC event for 2022, losing a close decision to Jared Cannonier. It was his first fight since his KO loss to current UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira back in July.
Costa last fought in August, when he outpointed former champion Luke Rockhold in a unanimous decision at UFC 278. The victory snapped a two-fight losing streak that came against Marvin Vettori and Israel Adesanya. He was undefeated before the pair of defeats.
