Sean Strickland fought and defeated the former title challenger Paulo Costa convincingly at UFC 302. Although the find didn’t have many memorable moments, still, ‘Tarzan’ cried out for a title fight, claiming that it “needs to happen.” But his path to the middleweight strap could be a long road after a recent shake-up. It’s not just Sean Strickland. Many people believe that a title rematch for him is much deserved after he lost the strap at UFC 297. But his assertion in favor of this title may be at risk as it seems that Strickland has slipped in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings and may soon completely drop off the list.

A few months ago, the ever-vocal Sean Strickland moved as high as the 7th position in the UFC’s P4P list. He was the champion at that time and was on top of the world as one of the UFC’s most active and popular stars, but the first part has drastically changed. The newly updated rankings show Islam Makhachev, two-weight champion Alex Pereira and Jon Jones occupy the top 3 ranks, respectively. However, its bad news for Strickland, who’s lost his place and not even in the top 10 anymore.

Yes, Sean Strickland has been pushed way down to the 15th place, with Charles Oliveira rising to the 14th place. Many people would be surprised to see Charles Oliveira above ‘Tarzan’ because he lost his last fight at UFC 300 against Arman Tsarukyan compared to Strickland, who recorded a triumphant outing in his most recent fight. Moreover, even Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya found themselves in the rankings.

Well, Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya are out of the top 10, ranked at the 11th and 13th place, respectively. However, they’re still above Sean Strickland. Could this mean that the title fight hopes are dead for the vocal one? We don’t know that for sure, but what we do know is that his coach is rallying for that championship battle and he has his reason to make that claim.

Eric Nicksick claims ‘Tarzan’ “never lost the belt”

The epic clash against Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland’s career was undeniably a close one, and even though the South African star won, Dana White appeared skeptical, arguing that ‘Tarzan’ won that fight. This sentiment seems to have been echoed by Strickland’s coach, who came unglued with his assentations about the former champion getting a rematch for the prestigious 185lbs belt.

“In my head, he [Sean Strickland] never lost the belt. It was such a close fight with Dricus. He dominated Izzy. I think if Izzy wins that fight that’s an easy rematch Izzy’s gonna want to get that revenge. If Dricus wins you think [he will] give Sean the opportunity to avenge that loss. So, both of them makes sense to me, I think Sean has a claim at the next shot at that belt and sit on it,” Eric Nicksick stated on ‘The MMA Hour’.

What do you think lies ahead for Sean Strickland? Is it a title fight against the winner of the UFC 305 headliner? Drop your views in the comments below.