Jason Burgos
There is no doubt that Sean Strickland is one of the best 185-pound fighters on the planet. He deserves a spot near the top of our UFC middleweight rankings because of the impressive resume he has put together inside the Octagon.
The 30-7 star has victories over some of the best middleweights of the last decade, including division legend Israel Adesanya. Furthermore, his seven losses inside the UFC have come to elite talent, including future Hall of Famers Alex Pereira and Kamaru Usman.
However, a major reason for his rise to fame, or more like infamy, is the lack of a filter between his brain and mouth. Fight fans are used to bold hot takes from competitors. But Strickland lets fly with any-and-all thoughts about social issues during media events and on social media. And in many instances, they created serious backlash because of how controversial they were.
Ahead of his return this weekend in the championship main event of UFC 328, we look at some of Strickland’s most outrageous and controversial opinions.
Sean Strickland Doesn’t Want Women in the Workforce
UFC fans have found out over the last few years that the former middleweight champion leans conservative in many of his views on society. That includes the roles of men and women in society, and in 2023, he let it be known he would rather see the ladies stay home and have kids instead of being a part of the American workforce.
“We need to go back to taking women out of the workforce, and maybe that’s where we f**ed up, guys. We let women vote, no offense. Think about America prior to women voting… You let these women come into the workforce, now we make less money, you got kids raising themselves on TikTok, we need to go back to like 1942, maybe 1958, after we f’d up the Germans. We need to put women back in the kitchen.”
Sean Strickland Hated Bad Bunny Performing at the Super Bowl
One of the biggest stories of 2026 was music mega-star Bad Bunny — one of the most downloaded artists ever — performing during the Super Bowl. The February performance ended up being the most-watched of all time. But heading into his February fight against Anthony Hernandez, Strickland offered up some homophobic views on the NFL’s decision.
“I think they all get together around a table and say, ‘You know what, guys, how do we ruin this sport? How do we gay it up? Why don’t we bring in a gay foreigner who doesn’t speak f***ing English and have him perform?’”
Bunny is Puerto Rican, which makes him an American citizen because Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth.
Sean Strickland Shows No Love for Women’s MMA
Next weekend will bring a massive first for Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix. A mixed martial arts event headlined by women’s MMA legends Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano. However, the middleweight title contender is no fan of the upcoming clash between the 39-year-old and 44-year-old.
“Ronda Rousey’s gonna f***ing steamroll her, and we’re just gonna watch two middle-aged women going through menopause fight each other. I don’t know. I have no interest in that. Who gives a f***?”
Sean Strickland Wants an Opponent to Die in the Cage?
Strickland has revealed a variety of bizarre thoughts on life and death over the last few years. However, the most controversial was a comment five years ago that he fantasized about the idea of ending an opponent’s life in the cage. This should have raised big red flags with UFC brass.
“I would love nothing more than to kill somebody in the ring. Nothing more. It would make me super happy. I would own that s***, too… Be a psychopath, it’s f***ing fun!”
Escalation Before UFC 328
On Saturday night, Strickland will get a second chance at becoming the middleweight champion when he takes on the current title holder, Khamzat Chimaev. There was always an expectation that the tensions between the two mouthy fighters would increase as we got closer to UFC 328.
The first salvo in the trash talk came last week when Strickland suggested he might pull out a gun if Chimaev and his friends tried to confront him before their fight.
“All I’m gonna do is pull my gun out, and I might shoot him. If you come up to me with three Chechnyans that don’t speak English, I’m going to pull my gun, and I’m going to shoot each and every one of you.”
