Did Sean Strickland really lose his UFC 297 bout? Speculations will always arise no matter who emerges as the winner of a fight that is this close. However, it’s different when fans claim that ‘Tarzan’ won and when UFC insiders believe that he may have taken the crown home after all.

So what happened? MMA pundit Joe Rogan felt like Strickland should’ve won and even UFC CEO Dana White had the former champion winning. However, the same was not reflected in the judge’s scorecards. Here’s a UFC legend finally addressing the situation.

Did Dana White and Joe Rogan mess it all up?

In a press conference after the fight, Dana White admitted that he’d scored the fight in Sean Strickland’s favor. Rogan, on his Fight Companion episode of the Joe Rogan Podcast, was rather surprised too when ‘Stillknocks‘ was announced as the winner. He too had ‘Tarzan’ winning in his mind.

So it was a little weird for Chael Sonnen to see their expertise crumble to the ground, with Du Plessis taking the belt home. In a recent video, Sonnen claimed that he was certainly cheering for Strickland to win. However, he admitted his bias outright.

“I don’t hide my bias, I’m a human being. In my heart it was 5-0, the real biasness to Strickland with an upset stomach, sweaty palms, it was 5-0 and in an absolute best case 4-0. . . My bigger surprise, Joe Rogan, Dana White, who definitely qualifies as an expert in the space, both had Strickland. One thing in common, one thing different than me, I heard the commentary and they didn’t. And I’m just wondering if I got influenced,” Sonnen said.

So which one is it? Did Strickland win or did all three MMA veterans just think the wrong fighter won? Was everyone just wrong about Strickland’s performance? There’s no singular way of ruling it out. However, many fans were convinced that ‘Tarzan’ should’ve won, prompting a rather negative online response. All of this made veteran commentator Jon Anik want to just call it quits with the UFC.

Why did Jon Anik dislike the aftermath of UFC 297?

Jon Anik has been with the promotion for many years now. One of the greatest to ever grace the commentary desk with his presence, Joe Rogan’s co-commentator recently opened up about the negativity and toxicity of the MMA world. He mentioned how he was growing tired of the MMA space. All of it was because there were just a lot of claims against Du Plessis’ win at UFC 297.

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Anik upset a lot of fans with his take and later ended up apologizing for hurting fans’ sentiments about their aggressiveness. Perhaps things like this will always happen whenever the fight is close. Sean Strickland certainly gave his best to retain the title but it ended up in someone else’s hands after all. Perhaps a rematch which is much less close can bring it to a conclusion everyone can agree upon. What do you believe?

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