Following his win at UFC Houston, Sean Strickland had a conversation with UFC bosses Dana White and Hunter Campbell after what was a controversial week.
A week ago on Saturday at UFC Houston, the former UFC middleweight champion returned to the win column with an impressive win over Anthony Hernandez.
His third round TKO win marked his first finish inside the UFC Octagon since his win over Abus Magomedov in 2023.
And immediately after his win, Sean Strickland engaged in a conversation backstage with Dana White and Hunter Campbell, which was caught on camera.
If you were Dana White, who’s the first fighter you’d cut from the UFC roster?
Sean Strickland thanked Dana White for not firing him after controversial fight week
In usual Strickland fashion, his UFC Houston fight week kicked off controversially as several of his rants including female MMA went viral.
That led to Paramount being put under pressure to address Strickland’s comments, which they didn’t do.
And after what was another highly controversial week for the 35-year-old, following his win, he thanked White and Campbell for not firing him when they met backstage.
“Ah, Mr White, thanks for not firing me, that’s really nice,” Strickland told White.
“Well, you got the bonus tonight,” White replied as he told Strickland he had earned an additional $125,000 for his win.
“Let’s go, bro. Every time I do a press conference, I’m like, ‘Here we go’, I see Hunter’s name (on my phone),” Strickland said.
“I told them, get ready, batten down the hatches up there,” White said in reference to the post-fight press conference, which hadn’t taken place at that point.
“Hunter never calls me to say ‘Hey Sean, how’s your day?’ He’s always saying, ‘Sean, you need to shut the f— up.’
“The moment I shut the f— up, do you think those stands will be just as full? No. People go because they either love me or want me to die, but either way, they’re buying tickets,” Strickland continued.
UFC 327 title announcement could benefit Sean Strickland
This past Friday, White took to Instagram live to announce the UFC 327 main event will be a vacant light heavyweight title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg, announcing Alex Pereira has vacated.
The reason why this could be a big benefit to Strickland is because the UFC middleweight champion, Khamzat Chimaev, was linked to a move up to 205lbs.
But with it now almost guaranteed that Chimaev’s next fight will be a 185lb title defense, Strickland’s rivalry with him could see him leapfrog the pack and be the next challenger.
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