UFC Houston goes down on February 21st and features a main event between former middleweight champion Sean Strickland and surging contender Anthony Hernandez. It’s been just over a year since Sean Strickland has fought, which is a long time for a guy who has been getting two bouts every twelve months like clockwork for years in the UFC.
The reason why he disappeared after his last middleweight title challenge against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312? He stepped into the cage at an event he was cornering
and punched a fighter in the face.
Dumb.
But according to Strickland, getting suspended in June and having to take all that time off was actually great.
“I mean, the suspension was dope, man,” Sean told Full Send MMA. “A bunch of injuries got healed up. I don’t get to hit cops often and not go to jail too, which is nice. That’s cool. I didn’t know he was a cop at first, but it made it significantly better, that six months. I’m like, ‘Ah f–k it, I’m down for this.’”
It was a Tuff-N-Uff event in Las Vegas where Strickland was cornering teammate Miles Hunsinger that things went awry. Hunsinger got submitted by his opponent Luis Hernandez in the second round, and Hernandez then threw some crotch chops in the direction of Hunsinger’s corner, which featured Sean Strickland and Chris Curtis.
“Let me tell you: it had nothing to do with my boy losing,” Strickland said. “I mean, dude, we all lose fights. Like nothing to do with it. It was the disrespect you gave to me, dog. Like, if you would’ve just took your W and just shut the f–k up, nothing would’ve [happened], it’d be fine. But you had to go be a dickhead.”
“Like, I was cool to you. I didn’t make fun of you, dude. And, you know, I’m pro ICE, dawg. Like, I’m pro cop. Why you gotta go put me that shit on me? F–k you.”
Strickland barging into the cage and slugging Hernandez resulted in “Tarzan” receiving an indefinite suspension which sat over him like a black cloud for months before the NSAC finally set the punishment at $5,000 and six months.
On the plus side, we don’t doubt Strickland has been fighting through some bad injuries because we saw it in the DDP fight. Sean went into that fight with a serious shoulder problem and never managed to get anything going. He’ll need to be in top shape if he wants to get past “Fluffy” Hernandez, who has promised to ‘f–king torture’ Strickland for his pro-ICE comments.
