SUMMARY
- Sean Strickland blamed Canada and its politics for his loss at UFC 297 in the country.
- Colby Covington pulled off something similar during his UFC 296 post-fight press conference.
Months after losing a close decision to Dricus Du Plessis, Sean Strickland has disclosed why he feels he lost the bout. Strickland, the former UFC Middleweight Champion, attempted to defend his title for the first time at UFC 297 against Du Plessis. They had a close fight which lasted 25 minutes and went to the judges’ scorecard. In the end, DDP won via split decision 48-47, 48-47 and 47-48.
According to Strickland, he lost the fight because it was in Canada. During his media duties before UFC 297, Strickland slammed a journalist all while going on a rant about Canada and its politicians. He has lashed out at Canadian politicians again in a recent comment on X.
And man I don’t wanna pull this card but when does the Champ ever lose a close fight? When you’re in Canada with a bunch of dirty fucking leftist
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) March 13, 2024
He wrote, “And man, I don’t want to pull this card, but when does the Champ ever lose a close fight? When you’re in Canada with a bunch of dirty f—ing leftists.”
However, this is not the only UFC fighter who has attributed his loss to politics. Colby Covington did a similar act after his UFC 296 unanimous decision loss against Leon Edwards. At the UFC 296 post-fight press conference, Covington said, “The judges never favor me… They hate me because I support Trump, and everybody hates Trump in this building, so … it is what it is. Life goes on.”
Derek Cleary, Eric Colon, and Sal D’Amato were the judges for the UFC Middleweight Championship fight in Canada. These are the same judges that score UFC fights in America. Moreover, Cleary and D’Amato were also judging UFC 296.
Both Strickland and Covington have brash, outspoken personalities and they talk politics a lot. Such comments are expected of them. Fans, however, were disappointed with Strickland as he followed in Covington’s footsteps.
Sean Strickland is eyeing a rematch against Dricus Du Plessis
Strickland has been fairly active on X for years opening up about his controversial views. Here and there he also talks about UFC. Lately, he posted about why he deserves a rematch like Israel Adesanya did after losing to Alex Pereira.
Strickland wrote, “You know I don’t care about fight politics or a belt but it makes me laugh they give izzy a rematch to alex after getting slept… I lost a close decision that dana himself thought I won. Everyone did.. The stats did… That needs to be run back..”
You know I don’t care about fight politics or a belt but it makes me laugh they give izzy a rematch to alex after getting slept..
I lost a close decision that dana himself thought I won. Everyone did.. The stats did.
That needs to be run back..
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) March 13, 2024
Adesanya lost his title to Pereira at UFC 281 via TKO in the fifth round of the fight. He got his rematch at UFC 287 and knocked Pereira out for the first time in his career in the second round.
Strickland is also lining up a rematch for himself. The South African middleweight champion, however, has other plans. On Cameron Saaiman’s podcast, DDP claimed he would want to defend his title against Adesanya at UFC Africa. The pair have a score to settle when it comes to being African and this would be a mouthwatering fight. As of now, however, no title defenses have been confirmed but Strickland does not look like he is in line for a rematch.
