Sean Strickland claims heart isn't in MMA anymore, touches on recent injuries
Sean Strickland's love for MMA appears to have dwindled, as he brings attention to a string of injuries that have plagued his recent training camps.
In the past, Sean Strickland styled himself as a fighter's fighter who just loves to, well, fight. However, those sentiments appear to have taken a U-turn amid contentious negotiations with the UFC for a middleweight title defense against Nassourdine Imavov. In fact, if he's to be believed, he's fallen out of love with MMA entirely.
Sean Strickland's love affair with MMA may be over
When UFC 335 was announced, there was a curious lack of proper title fights. No undisputed title will be defended at the event, and the only 'championship bout' will be a BMF lightweight title fight between Charles Oliveira and Diego Lopes. Sean Strickland, who was previously expected to defend his middleweight title against Nassourdine Imavov at the event, was nowhere to be seen. As it turns out, money issues were the reason for his absence. Money that the promotion seems unwilling to fork up. Now, Strickland's issues have grown and it's no longer just about a pay dispute.
As he often does, Strickland took to social media to air out his thoughts. He spoke about how strongly he's considering vacating his belt, moving up to light heavyweight for the remainder of his UFC contract, then heading to the influencer boxing side of things to face Jake Paul for a fat check. It's a troubling situation given that Strickland is still in his prime and just regained the middleweight title at UFC 328, where he became a two-time middleweight champion, and made divisional history by becoming the first man to hand Khamzat Chimaev a loss, beating him via split-decision, all while being the biggest betting underdog in middleweight history.
MMA, unfortunately, just isn't that special to Strickland anymore, and the injuries aren't helping.
"Y'all think I'm just frustrated because my body is crashing because MMA training is brutal. My heart just isn't in MMA anymore. Groin tear, AC joint separation. I just don't think my heart is in MMA anymore. Boxing there is more money and it's significantly easier."
Strickland followed this up by sharing pictures of his last camp, where he can be seen getting blood drawn from an injured knee, which is one of several injuries he's had to deal with in recent memory.
Even Imavov is fed up with the waiting, prompting him to offer Strickland some of his own money, culminating in an in-person confrontation at the UFC Performance Institute. How the UFC will solve Strickland's woes remains to be seen, but it's been a relatively poor year for the promotion's titleholders.
