No.7 Ranked Sean Strickland Tells Why He Is Fighting an Unranked Fighter in His UFC Return

Middleweight fighter Sean Strickland will fight for the second time this year at UFC Vegas 76. He has been announced to fight newcomer Abusupiyan Magomedov on July 1. Many people were surprised to see him fight an unranked fighter as ‘Tarzan’ took to social media and explained the reason for his choice to fight Magomedov.

Strickland is riding with momentum after a win at UFC Vegas 67 against Nassourdine Imamov in a light heavyweight clash. However, fans were taken aback after the UFC announced that ‘Tarzan’ will take on a sophomore fighter since he is a top 10 fighter in the middleweight division. Moreover, another middleweight fighter expressed his disappointment with the UFC with regard to this matter.

Middleweight fighter is unhappy with newcomer facing a ranked fighter

Caio Borralho, who started off his UFC career with Dana White’s Contender Series, is yet to suffer a defeat in the premier MMA promotion. He is on a 3-fight winning streak and hasn’t fought with a ranked fighter yet. But he made his opinion public when he expressed his frustration with the UFC presenting Abusupiyan Magomedov, a newcomer, a fight against Sean Strickland in his second bout for the company.

He wrote on Twitter: “So a guy gets murdered in PFL… and comes to UFC and win from a 1-4 in last 5 fights guy and gets a chance to fight into the rankings? What the f*** is happening right now?” It is clear that Borralho is not happy with waiting to fight a ranked fighter with Magomedov hitting the jackpot in his second UFC fight.

Sean Strickland reveals why he chose the Abusupiyan Magomedov fight

‘Tarzan’ took to Instagram and shared a story of him commenting on the reason for choosing the July 1 fight against Magomedov. He mentioned that there were a couple of options other than the newcomer. But none of them accepted to fight him. Strickland wrote: “Let me explain what this is to you guys. They asked 2 guys to fight me and they both said no.”

He went on to explain that he had only two options after that. “So I either wait 6 months for a ranked guy to say yes which they probably won’t or I fight.” Strickland added, “I fight for money this is my profession.” Strickland then took a shot at Dricus Du Plessis, claiming that he picked easy fights. He said, “Dricus picked all easy fights and will get a title shot after beating old retired Brunson, and I applaud him for it.” The 7th-ranked middleweight believes that Israel Adesanya will decimate the South African and said, “Izzy is going to make him look like a glorified can, But he played the game well.”

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Sean Strickland even asked the fans what they would have done if they had to wait six months for a fight. “So what would you guys do in my position wait 6+ months to fight or go fight???”

Magomedov may be a newcomer, but he is coming into his next fight with a knockout win in the previous outing. We will have to wait and see how the fight pans out on July 1.

What are your thoughts on Strickland’s next opponent? Drop your comments below.

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