TORONTO – UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has continually stretched the imagination when it comes to insults hurled before, during, and after his fights. So his recent claims that UFC 297 opponent Dricus Du Plessis crossed lines were met with mixed responses.
The short answer is that Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) does not care if this makes him sound like a hypocrite, as Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and others claimed because he puts no weight into the court of public opinion. The longer answer he gave at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday, however, outlined the attributes of what Strickland considers to be fair play vs. off-limits.
“I just simply said that’s a line that I prefer we didn’t go there,” Strickland told MMA Junkie and other reporters. “And you guys, I sh*t on everybody. I make fun of your gay, little pirate earring. … I go hard, man. I made fun of Sean O’Malley’s wife getting f*cked by his buddy. I made fun of the cuck Ian Garry. The difference is, and I was just telling DC this, you went on a podcast and you joked about calling a homie to f*ck your wife. Like, I didn’t go make fun of anything you didn’t joke about. Like, this isn’t traumatic for you. You just said, ‘Hey, I wanted my buddy to f*ck my wife. I wanted to throw her some D.’ I’m not even hating on that.
“Or like the cuck Ian Garry, I didn’t go out and say I made up the definition of WAG. ‘You’re a WAG?’ You went out there and you put your wife front and f*cking center. You put her front and f*cking center. You made her design a shirt. You made her hold the f*cking baby while you wear it, laughing. You put her front and f*cking center. You are a f*cking cuck. I go hard on everybody. Sometimes some sh*t gets on me. I’m fully aware of that, but it is what it is, man.”
A general response to the calls of hypocrisy was also given. Strickland said he’s not investing any time into online hate. As long as people don’t insult him within arm’s reach, he will pay the criticism no attention.
“Here’s the thing, guys. I don’t need to be f*cking right,” Strickland said. “The people? F*ck the people. If one day I wake up, and like the cuck Ian Garry, everybody hates me. Do you think I give a f*ck? Do you think I give a f*ck if I walk down the street and someone says, ‘There’s Sean Strickland. F*ck him.’ I don’t care. Enjoy, motherf*cker. You better just do it far enough away because I’ll hit you. I’m not Colby Covington, bro. I’m not Chris Curtis. I’m not going to delete my f*cking Twitter. Enjoy, man. You want to go call me a f*cking whatever you want, go enjoy. Just do it online.”
Strickland defends his title Saturday at Scotiabank Arena vs. Du Plessis in the UFC 297 main event. It will be his first attempted title defense since he dethroned Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in September.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.
