There’s no love lost between this weekend’s UFC 293 headliners. Sean Strickland, who will face middleweight champ Israel Adesanya in the main event of this weekend’s event, argued at the pre-fight press conference that “nobody likes” the “cringe lord” champion.
“Nobody likes f****** Izzy. He’s a f****** cringe lord. Everything that guy does makes you f****** wince. Like, did he really do that? Is he really race-baiting Dricus [Du Plessis] right now?
Sean Strickland BLASTS “Cringe Lord” UFC Champ Israel Adesanya
How does this play out for you? The thing about Izzy, when somebody sucks to that degree, it’s pretty f****** easy to make fun of them. This f****** cringe lord. F****** A. Even talking about him makes me want to go f****** take a shower. I feel dirty.”
Strickland’s path to the top has plenty of doubters, as Strickland’s mince-no-words approach to fight promotion rubs many fans the wrong way. Despite this, Sean Strickland argues that he deserves to be in the Octagon with Adesanya.
“It’s going to be a f****** war. I do think people forget how good of a fighter I am because of how much I talk, but we’ll find out on Sunday. To the death. I run my mouth so much, I think people forget I can fight.”
Strickland is also arguing that, although Adesanya undoubtedly has a better gameplan on the feet, he plans to get the best of the champ on the ground. “Here’s the thing guys — I’ve been wrestling my ass off.
But I also wrestled my ass off with Alex [Pereira]. The problem is you get in there and your d*** gets a little bit hard and next thing you know, you turn it into a boxing match. Maybe I’m going to try to be a complete MMA fighter, but no promises.
You fight a guy like that, f****** little twinkle-toes, running around, dancing around, it’s hard to shoot [for a takedown].
You’re going to have to go nose to nose, d*** to d***, and make it a war.” Although the chance to fight for UFC gold has been years in the making for Strickland, he insists that it’s not just about the belt for him. Love of the game comes first.
“[The fight] means so much to me, but it’s a f***** piece of metal. I’m in it for the paycheck. I love this s***.
Having a piece of metal around my waist doesn’t define me, it doesn’t make me who I am, it doesn’t make me f****** happy. It would be nice, but at the end of the day, it’s just a fight. It’s just fun.”
