Sean Strickland has had a variety of points with Khamzat Chimaev, and he simply added to his frustrations after the UFC middleweight champion abruptly shared a brief clip of a previous coaching session on social media.
The 25-second video, which reveals little greater than Chimaev and Strickland punching one another, was accompanied by the caption, “I bully the weak.” Chimaev’s feedback got here after he accused Strickland of selecting and selecting lower-level fighters as sparring companions as a substitute of searching for greater and higher matches within the gymnasium.
Strickland says Chimaev releasing the sparring footage solely vindicates his level concerning one among his largest complaints about his subsequent opponent.
“That is what I am speaking about,” Strickland mentioned at UFC 328 media day. “That man is only a fucking rat. For one factor, he did not know we had been filming. That was our warm-up spherical.
“You are only a weak man. You are only a weak, weak man. What is the level? We’re in some mild sparring. I imply, these shorts are somewhat suspicious to me. They had been Amazons. It was a nasty angle.”
All kidding apart, Strickland claims he solely truly sparred with Chimaev as soon as, however was making an attempt to get extra time contained in the cage with the long run UFC champion.
Sadly, Chimaev did not wish to participate in it, so he says there wasn’t a lot to be gained from the temporary interactions up to now.
“We solely sparred as soon as, but it surely was like three rounds of sparring,” Strickland mentioned. “We sparred as soon as. I stored telling you this: Once I go to the gymnasium, I wish to spar with the perfect guys. I wish to spar with him, however he all the time simply beat the decrease stage guys.”
As a lot as Chimaev says he truly known as the UFC and particularly requested for this combat, Strickland does not know if that is true or not.
All Strickland is aware of for positive is that the UFC made the appropriate resolution in reserving this combat with Chimaev, particularly understanding there have been no nice choices under him within the rankings.
“I believe it is a good sport and a enjoyable sport,” Strickland mentioned. “There’s a variety of guys on this division, and what is the prime 5? Brendan Allen?[Khamzat’s]fucking punching bag. That man’s meat. What else do we’ve got within the prime 5 of the division proper now? It is simply good to get a contemporary look, some new blood. I believe this combat meant one thing.”
