Jack Hermansson, perhaps better than any other UFC middleweight, epitomizes the strong, silent type. Hermansson is better known for vicious submissions and prodigious grappling than for trash talk, which makes this weekend’s matchup between him and outspoken Sean Strickland particularly compelling viewing.
Hermansson hasn’t been able to avoid some of Strickland’s more extreme trash talk, and takes particular umbrage with Strickland telling the press he would be “super happy” to kill an opponent in the Octagon.
Jack Hermansson Reacts to Sean Strickland’s Octagon Murder Claim
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Hermansson pointed out that comments like that only serve to damage the sport, particularly in his native Norway, where MMA remains illegal.
“Our sport has always been controversial in the sense of that we actually are fighting with as few rules as we can have and still be safe.
In Norway where I live, MMA is still illegal, which means that we can’t be fighting on our home turf and we are fighting for it to be legal.
When people in this sport are saying those kinds of things, it’s not actually helping our cause. I definitely could wish that people were a little bit more careful with that kind of stuff. As long as I represent the sport in a good way, hopefully it will be fine.”
For Hermansson, the fight game is about sport, and he hopes that Sean Strickland is just exaggerating for the cameras. “It doesn’t play in our favor.
We just have to keep reminding people that most people are not like Sean. Hopefully, it’s just a thing that he puts into his character. Let’s hope so.”
Jack Hermansson, for his part, is confident that his grappling skills will be enough to earna victory over Sean Strickland. Strickland is best known as a striker, and one who typically earns victories via decision, while Hermansson prefers to look for early submission wins.
To him, however, the trash talk is all just part of the game. “What can you say?
You can shake your head and laugh about it but I haven’t felt any agony towards me or anything. I anticipate that he’s going to be crazy, maybe say some crazy things. But he’s not necessarily disrespectful, he’s just saying crazy stuff. It isn’t necessarily trash talk.
I’m ready for whatever, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has some controversial lines during the build up to the fight.” How do you feel about Sean Strickland’s brand of trash talk? Let us know in the comments.
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