Sean Strickland’s combat style, persona criticized by fighters after UFC 312
Not only did Sean Strickland get his nose broken in his latest loss to middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, the brash American has faced criticism from fellow fighters for his UFC 312 performance and his fighting style.
Sean Strickland had a rough weekend at UFC 312 in Australia.
Not only did he get his nose broken in the fourth round of his main event loss to middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, but the brash American has since faced criticism from his fellow fighters, as well as many fans and pundits, for his performance and game plan.
Specifically, some current and former fighters are questioning his defence-first fighting style that has not changed much in recent years.
Count current UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad among those who are not a fan of Strickland inside or out of the cage.
“Sean sucks. He’s trash. He talks a big game, but he never walks,” Muhammad said in a video posted to his social media reacting to Strickland’s loss. “Even to the fans that sit there and hype him up, like, he’s the best boxer, has the best boxing defence, this, this and that. He’s going to go to war, he’s going to kill. ‘I would bleed for my fans, I would die for my fans,’ blah blah blah. But you go out there and he just jabs and teeps and he fights like a scared little girl, and he doesn’t want to get hit.”
The UFC 312 headline bout was a rematch of the UFC 297 main event that saw Dricus Du Plessis become champion thanks to a tightly contested split decision.
Strickland outlanded Du Plessis 183-140 in total strikes in the first 25-minute meeting but he was outpaced in the rematch, which also lasted five full rounds. In fact, Strickland attempted 156 fewer strikes at UFC 312 compared to UFC 297 and only won one round on one judge’s scorecard in the second fight.
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“Even when you’re down four rounds, he doesn’t go all out,” Muhammad added. “He doesn’t have it in him unless there’s five seconds left in the fight, and he wants to yell and have that highlight reel, and wants people to say he’s crazy, he’s nuts. He’s not. He’s just a racist little clown that’s hiding in a body of a fighter. He’s a scared little boy hiding in the body of a fighter. He’s a coward, and he shows it in his fights.”
One-time former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold expressed a similar sentiment, telling The Ariel Helwani Show he watched the fight and thought Strickland “basically quit” despite talking a big game.
“When has he ever put his ass on the line and (expletive) bit down and really went for it through a whole process of a fight, not just the last 10 seconds of a round?” Rockhold asked. “I mean, he’s not finishing any big fights I’ll tell you that. Look at him out there.”
On the other hand, Strickland has earned the respect of Du Plessis and holds notable five-round wins over Israel Adesanya (for which he won the title in 2023), Paulo Costa and Nassourdine Imavov.
The California native turns 34 at the end of February and holds a 16-7 record in his 23 UFC appearances since 2014.
Since moving up to the middleweight division, Strickland has refined his unique, difficult-to-deal-with fighting style that prioritizes defence even when pressing forward. It’s a style that, while effective, hasn’t evolved much during his spike in popularity this decade.
All-time pound-for-pound great Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson broke down Strickland’s latest performance on his popular YouTube page and made some similar observations.
“Sean Strickland has a style where he would not deviate from it,” Johnson explained. “Whether he’s losing a five-round decision, or if he’s winning a five-round decision, he will not deviate from that Philly Shell style, with that beautiful jab he has along with a 1-1-2 and a 1-1-wide 4. He will not deviate from that and the teeps and the push kicks. He’s been doing that style from the very beginning, in the past four years of his career, and he will do it for the next four years of his career.
“In order to get better in this sport, you have to take the time, swallow your pride, swallow your ego, and put yourself in a position where you’re going to force yourself to evolve and get better and learn new tools. That’s the only way you’re going to become a better fighter in this game. Because otherwise, people who are younger, who will take the time to evolve and get better, are always going to beat you.”
UFC president Dana White was not as critical of the performance, instead praising Strickland’s professionalism when he’s in the cage.
“The guy stays focused, keeps coming forward, there’s never any hint of how he acts outside of the Octagon when he’s in there,” White said at the UFC 312 post-fight press conference. “Absolute professional the whole time, it’s actually fascinating. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that with a guy who acts the way he does leading up to fights.”
On Tuesday, Strickland fell from being the No. 1-ranked contender in the 185-pound division down to No. 2 spot and dropped one spot down to No. 15 on the UFC’s official pound-for-pound rankings.
It is unclear how long Strickland will remain on the sidelines as he recovers from his broken nose.
