MMA
All jokes aside: Sean Strickland is a proud minimalist except when it comes to his goal of becoming UFC middleweight champion
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Sean Strickland recently opened his door for an MTV Cribs-style tour around his Las Vegas apartment, showing off everything from a guitar sitting on the floor to a second-hand couch and a toilet that needs its lever jiggled for it to flush.
Essentially, “Tarzan” has just the basics and he’s fine with what he has. In fact, he has a theory about men who adorn their homes with too many things.
“The only reason why guys have s—t in their apartments is to get laid,” Strickland tells DAZN News over a recent phone call.
“At the end of the day, man, life makes everybody feel like they don’t have enough. Your old f—ing car with 100,000 miles on it, you drive past a nice Mercedes and you start feeling like less of a man.
“I enjoy not being a materialistic f—k,” he tacks on bluntly.
“I enjoy not having great things. I have things that work but I don’t need to go buy a massive flatscreen TV. I got my laptop, 12-inches, it’s perfect.”
While needs flex over wants in the 30-year-old’s life, Strickland’s bare fundamentals and desires converge at the thought of becoming middleweight champion someday.
“I’m not saying I’ll ever be a champion but to fight for the UFC gold,” Strickland says, “God, that would mean a lot to me.”
The No. 7 Strickland can take strides toward that goal Saturday when he clashes with sixth-ranked Jack Hermansson in the UFC Fight Night headliner live from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Strickland enters the bout riding a five-fight winning streak and sporting as zany of a personality as ever.
He held court with reporters Wednesday, providing off-the-wall colorful commentary on a plethora of subjects. And Strickland’s knack for saying absolutely anything extends in the Octagon as well, as evidenced by his recent training session with Dominick Reyes at the Xtreme Couture MMA gym in Las Vegas. There, he talked with the former light heavyweight title challenger every step of the way.
But for every seemingly outlandish statement that Strickland makes, he dismisses any notion that he’s having too much fun.
“Here’s what I tell people when they say I’m relaxed or I’m joking,” Strickland begins rationalizing.
“Jon Jones will go do cocaine, go to strip clubs and have sex with hookers and he’ll go and be one of the best in the world. Hands-down, pound-for-pound the best in the world.
“If you want to sit on a rock, meditate for two weeks and put yourself in a fight, that’s great. Do it,” he adds.
“But it ain’t gonna change the outcome of the fight.”
Strickland didn’t always own such a psyche during fight weeks of the past.
“I started putting this crazy amount of stress on myself,” Strickland remembers.
“It really started affecting my performance. I went down to 170 (pounds) because I was so worried about winning. I started losing passion for the sport. I loved training but when it actually came down to the fight, I hated it.”
That feeling was compounded in December 2018, when Strickland suffered a devastating knee injury after his motorcycle was struck by a vehicle.
“After my motorcycle accident, I sort of let go of fighting,” Strickland says.
“I said ‘You know what? I might get a couple of paychecks and this is going to be it.’”
Surgery and a long rehab helped chip away at reversing that sinking feeling. So did a return to middleweight. His first fight back in October 2020, Strickland produced a unanimous decision win over Jack Marshman. A second-round TKO (punches) of Brendan Allen followed exactly two weeks later.
Then came back-to-back unanimous decisions over Krzysztof Jotko and Uriah Hall within a three-month span in 2021.
Strickland’s recent body of work has helped absolve any lingering apathy he had built up for fights.
“I’m starting to find the love again,” Strickland says.
“I’m not so stressed out like I was. When I was back at welterweight, man, fight week came and I’d be a nervous wreck. I’d be in my hotel, focusing, just watching footage.
“Now, it’s just fun,” he continues, as he has found a nook where he’s mentally at peace for whatever should transpire within the confines of the Octagon against Hermansson or anyone else for that matter.
"Go in there and fight,” he says.
“I might knock him out, he might knock me out you know. It will be a good time.”
Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who Strickland likes to allege is on “steroids,” defends his title in a rematch against Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 on Feb. 12. Strickland believes that producing fireworks in a win over Hermansson could possibly have him skipping the line to meet the Adesanya-Whittaker winner.
“If I could go and put on a good performance and put this man away impressively, then I would love to get a title shot,” Strickland says.
“But if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. If you’re fighting, it’s like the pinnacle of where you’d like to be at. So, it’d be f—ing amazing. But for me to do that, I have to put Jack away impressively.”
If he ever reaches that goal of becoming champ, Strickland vows to keep his minimalist approach intact.
“I want to be a rich man who lives like a poor man,” he says.
“I want the money so I don’t have the stress but at the end of the day, that’s it.”
