On a recent episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Chael Sonnen, a legend in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), made an appearance and had a lot of great things to say about Sean Strickland.
Sonnen discussed the increased recognition that Strickland has gained, as well as his ascension to celebrity with his dominant performance against Israel Adesanya, who has held the title of middleweight champion for a long period. Subsequently, ‘The American Gangster’ proceeded to discuss Strickland as a person, recalling the day that he had his first encounter with the UFC middleweight champion.
It was him who said:
“When I first met Sean Strickland, he was 21 years old, and he had the same haircut that he has now. I was completely impressed by his appearance. It was on that day that he introduced himself, and we ended up becoming partners. During the course of his conversation with someone, he mentioned his record, which also happened to be perfect. Even if you have 17 fights by the time you are 21, you can’t have them. Due to the fact that you are not even allowed to get a fight sanctioned until you are 18 years old, I was wondering if I had met a liar. Consequently, I ended up sparring with him, and as I walked off the mat, I told Brittney that regardless of whether he is undefeated or not, if he has fought 17 times, he has won every single one of them. That guy is just remarkable.
Take a look at the video here (the statements made by Sonnen about Sean Strickland can be seen around 29:27):
Sean Strickland pens passionate thoughts on abuse following UFC press conference
There was a disagreement between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis during the press conference for the UFC 2024 season. This disagreement occurred when Du Plessis made some remarks about the abuse that Strickland endured as a child at the hands of his father.
A passionate declaration on abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the impact it may have on an individual has been published by Strickland, who has now taken to social networking websites. As he wrote:
PTSD has the ability to either make a strong man weak or a weak guy strong. Abusive treatment over a long period of time will only change you as a guy. There is no way to get rid of the hatred. Unfortunately, I am only one of millions of people, but the only reason I am significant is because there is a camera in my face… The majority of people remain silent about their suffering and try to drown their demons in booze or drugs. This is @theovon. I appreciate you notifying me that you would erase the video for me. I wished for you to, and I still kind of do, but at the end of the day, it’s just life…. postpartum depression”
Strickland shared a photograph of himself in Theo Von’s studio on his Instagram account. The caption of the photo suggested that the two individuals had a talk about the same topic, and that the conversation might be released in a film in the near future.