Sean Strickland stormed the cage at an MMA event on Sunday, striking a fighter who beat the UFC star’s teammate.
At a Tuff-N-Uff fight card in Las Vegas, Strickland’s teammate Miles Hunsinger suffered a second-round submission loss to Luis Hernandez, who won via standing guillotine choke.
Hernandez immediately celebrated by looking through the cage fence at Strickland and Chris Curtis – another UFC fighter and teammate of Strickland – and sticking out his tongue while gesturing to his crotch.
That led Strickland and Curtis to rush into the cage to confront Hernandez, with Strickland punching the 28-year-old twice.
Curtis in fact separated the pair, seemingly trying to prevent Strickland from striking Hernandez again. Yet when Hernandez appeared to goad Curtis at point-blank range, the latter seemed to offer some stern words before being dragged away by the referee.
All the while, the cage filled up with other officials and people trying to defuse the situation.
Later, the unbeaten Hernandez told journalist Ariel Helwani: “We were in the fight, and they were talking in the fight. And listen, there’s only so much we can take.
“This is entertainment, right, [but] he said some things, and then I said some things back, and I guess he didn’t like what I said back.
“He was talking s***, saying I was tired, he was making fun of me, I think he called me fat. I don’t take that lightly.
“Me? I said, ‘F*** you, Sean Strickland.’ Yeah, he punched me, he did [connect], but I’m still standing – still smiling.”
Strickland is one of the most divisive fighters in the UFC. The American, 34, pulled off an all-time MMA upset in 2023, when he outpointed Israel Adesanya to win the UFC middleweight title, though he lost it to Dricus Du Plessis in his first defence.
But he is equally known for his views on various political and social matters, having once claimed he wanted to kill an opponent in the cage. Strickland has also criticised women’s MMA, and insulted Australia before fighting there in February.
Strickland, who previously fought in Australia when he won the middleweight title, said: “It’s a really beautiful country. I would consider Australians as English white trash. Some Irish, too; you know they sent the lot here. As an American white trash, I feel like I have a lot in common with you f***ers.”
Referencing Australia’s introduction of gun laws, after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, Strickland added: “You had one mass shooting and gave up all your guns, that was kind of pathetic.
“It’s the lack of freedom, dude. How insane is it that we’re in a modern country and hate speech is a thing? […] We’re in a modern country with running water, and you guys know: it’s real bad […] real f***ing bad, dude.”
Strickland’s views were even featured on the front page of the Australian Daily Telegraph’ssports section. The paper branded him the “UFC’s biggest imbecile” and called for “someone [to] please knock this guy out”. In a strange move, the UFC shared the front page on its social-media accounts.
