UFC middleweight Sean Strickland has had his Twitter account suspeneded after a series of tweets were deemed to have violated the platform's rules.
The joint No.4 contender has been preparing for a fight with Alex Pereira in July, but always makes time to post his outlandish political and social takes on Twitter. Fans love Strickland's unique brand of posting, but it will be no more after his account was blocked following comments about guns and the transgender community.
Strickland has become known in recent years for his outlandish outbursts both on social media and at press events leading up to UFC fights. He has come under fire for previous comments about gay people and other groups, although he is generally playing up his persona for laughs and shock value.
However, in a recent and post, Strickland slammed countries like England and Germany with stricter gun laws that America as "nutless t******s." His first tweet read: “‘I have a gun on me, you wouldn’t try to fight me’.
"Let me stop you there, I don’t try to fight anyone. If you run your mouth I give you an option to be a man and step up If your go to is ‘grab my gun’ you’re a little b**** and the problem with the world. P****!"
He added days later, in the aftermath of the Robb Elementary School shooting that took 19 students lives and two adults, that countries with strict gun laws are "pathetic". He said: "I've just got to say countries that don’t have gun ownership [as] a human right really are pathetic,” Strickland said.
“‘Germany hasn’t had a mass shooting’, ‘England doesn’t have mass shooting’, blah blah you also don’t have f***ing men either so enjoy it you nutless trannies. That is all goodbye.”
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It is believed that the second tweet listed is what ultimately got Strickland removed from the platform. The fighter responded to the ban by sharing a post from Instagram news outlet MMA Island regarding his status on Twitter and asking fans in a poll if he should make a new account.
Generally pages that are made to evade a previous ban get re-suspended, so it remains to be seen how long a new page would stay up. Strickland is no stranger to controversy, having also declared that Ukraine should just "bend the knee" in their conflict with Russia, and just "become Russian".
"Ukraine should just bend the knee and become Russian," he said a few days before his suspension. "I understand it sucks and yes, you could win.. But do you really want to be the new Afghanistan for the next 30 years? Not saying it's right but this hard pill to swallow will be better in the end."
He also mocked transgender people, saying in another controversial post: “I’m actually a fan of pride month. Big Fan of the ‘B’ in LGBT lmao! Trans people though, God I can’t f***ing stand trans people.. Has to be some form of mental r********n…”
