Sean Strickland’s aspirations to regain his UFC middleweight crown have landed him in hot water with the fandom! ‘Tarzan’ shocked the world when he defeated Israel Adesanya in their middleweight title bout at UFC 293 in 2023. Coming into the fight as a massive underdog, Strickland earned a unanimous decision win over ‘The Last Stylebender’ and a ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus, to go along with the championship belt.

However, in his first title defense against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 earlier this year, Strickland lost the title in a split decision against the South African that many considered controversial. In a post on X after the fight, Strickland had stated, “The UFC fans want me and Dricus to settle it. Dricus wants to settle it. We all know I fought in a dirty liberal country who f*cked me. Dana knows it. The UFC knows it.”

While Strickland has since rebounded from the loss with a split decision win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302, the rest of the middleweight division has also been in a flurry of action. Former champion Robert Whittaker recently made a statement with a first-round finish of Ikram Aliskerov at UFC Saudi Arabia after Khamzat Chimaev had to withdraw on short notice from the bout.

As such, Strickland recently shared on social media, “I keep getting asked to fight Whittaker. I beat Izzy, the world knows I beat dricus. Whittaker lost to both. I am the number 1 contender, I defended that spot easily against Costa. I will wait…”

Dricus Du Plessis is currently scheduled to make the first defense of his middleweight crown against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, and UFC CEO Dana White has indicated that ‘The Reaper’ would be their choice as a ‘back up’ for this event. This has led to the fans slamming Sean Strickland for his assertions about ‘waiting’ for the title opportunity as they took to the comments to make their thoughts known. Here’s a look at what the fandom had to say.

Sean Strickland’s “MMA math” doesn’t convince fans as they blast him online

The possibility of the UFC handing Robert Whittaker a title shot before Strickland due to his consistent activity and recent heroics in taking on a short-notice replacement bout against a dangerous up-and-comer at UFC Saudi Arabia was brought by one fan

Watch the ufc give Robert the shot first.

Strickland’s claims that he beat Du Plessis and Adesanya while Whittaker couldn’t was also brought by the fans as an example of “MMA Math” not working as they claimed ‘The Reaper’s striking skills are way above those of Strickland

“MMA Math doesn’t work. Whittaker would put a striking clinic on you”

Some pointed out Strickland’s contradictory behavior as he had previously claimed that the UFC title doesn’t hold any value for him and is now willing not to fight till he gets a shot at the belt

“Bro went from the title is meaningless to crying about it everyday”

Other fans used Strickland’s own logic as they pointed out that Robert Whittaker was able to defeat Jared Cannonier while ‘Tarzan’ couldn’t

“Whittaker beat cannonier, cannonier beat Sean”

Fans also brought up the fact that it was Strickland’s inability to beat Du Plessis that has put him in this predicament where he holds the no. 1 spot in the division but isn’t in the title picture at the moment

“If you beat DDP you’d have the belt brother”

However, a contrasting opinion was also put forth by one fan who pointed out that fighting a dangerous opponent like Whittaker doesn’t make sense for Strickland who is already sitting in the top spot below the champion

“MMA math doesn’t work… But if I was him I’d wait too. No reason to take an unnecessary risk.”

Michael Chandler also caught a stray as one fan brought up the fact that in his pursuit of the Conor McGregor fight, ‘Iron Mike’ hasn’t stepped inside the Octagon since 2022 and that’s a fate they do not want to see befall Strickland  

“No no no, we already got a Michael chandler, be you and fight Bobby knuckles”

In conclusion, Sean Strickland’s decision to wait for a shot at the middleweight title has sparked significant controversy among MMA fans. While some see his refusal to fight as a tactical decision, a large majority of the netizens have indicated that they’d rather see Strickland remain active in the middleweight division. What are your thoughts on Sean Strickland ‘snubbing’ the Robert Whittaker fight to wait for a title shot? Let us know in the comments below!