Sean Strickland’s Controversial Relationship With Father: Alleged Childhood Abuse & More

The ever-vocal former middleweight champion Sean Strickland has often spoken about his childhood struggles and tumultuous upbringing. He has never shied away from talking about the horrors he had to face whenever he confronted his biological father. As such, let’s go down memory lane and look at the details of Strickland’s account of his father.

Sean Strickland is returning to action for the second time in 2025, for a chance to win back his title from Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312. Given that he’s one of the most popular fighters on the roster, he will certainly have his section of fans cheering him on during the co-main event. His raw and genuine magnetism, including how he opened up about the accounts of wrongdoings his father indulged in, was the biggest reason he garnered such popularity. But what did the 33-year-old’s father do? Well, let’s find that out.

Who was Sean Strickland’s father? What happened to him?

Well, Sean Strickland’s father passed away because of cancer in 2017, and when he made his debut on Joe Rogan‘s podcast, the former champion would reveal to the host that when his father was ill, he was suffering from more than one kind of cancer. When doctors asked his father why he was unaware of such problems, he continued his old ways of abusing substances.

“He had every kind of cancer. I mean, like, body, brain, every kind of cancer. And I think the doctors were like, ‘Dude, how did you not know something was wrong?’… My dad was like, ‘Give me all the d***s. I am just gonna ride this b*tch out,” stated Sean Strickland. Now, ‘Tarzan’ and his mother are the only two people left in his family, besides his girlfriend, known as KJ. But let’s take a look at what he had to say about his childhood struggles.

Sean Strickland reveals father’s childhood abuse

The former 185-pound champ has stated, more times than once, that his father was abusive, both physically and mentally. The relationship between Sean Strickland and his father was toxic, to say the least. However, the brunt of the abuse in the household was primarily faced by Strickland’s mother. Moreover, his father’s addiction was not just limited to alcohol, he indulged in prescription drugs as well.

“My father, abusive, alcoholic, drunk, you know. Got on pills later on. Everything about him, I hated. Yes, everything about him. I hated my dad,” said Sean Strickland on ‘Extra Thiccc’ podcast. He would also detail the things his mother had to endure, and there was one instance when he had to step in and save his mother from getting choked.

“He f***ing gets on top of my mom… He gets on top of my mom and is like strangling her. Saying, ‘Tonight’s the night you’re gonna f***ing die,” Strickland told Ariel Helwani. “The only thing I see is a guitar, so I go and I grab the guitar, and I f*cking just smack him in the head as hard as I can. I grabbed the phone. I ran out and called the cops. My mom, her dumba**, bailed him out of jail the next day.”

Nothing was easy at home for the former middleweight champion. He once even encouraged his father to get himself out of his misery. But that would not happen. On the other hand, the internet was successful in finding a pretty old picture of Sean Strickland with the patriarch of his family. Let’s check that out.

A rare picture of Strickland with his dad revealed

UFC fans have unmatched curiosity, which led them to discover a rare picture of Sean Strickland with a man who’s believed to be his father. The picture shows them really close to each other, and his father seemed healthy. This picture appears to be taken back in the early 2010s, but there’s no accurate report to suggest that it’s true.

Meanwhile, some fellow UFC fighters do not seem to care too much about Sean Strickland’s childhood and relationship struggles with his deceased father. One of them is Khamzat Chimaev, who recently took a rather unpleasant shot at the former champion using that same rare picture of him with his father on social media.

Khamzat Chimaev takes a dig at Strickland’s father

Sean Strickland recently really took a serious dig at his former training partner, Khamzat Chimaev, with respect to his relationship with the leader of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. However, ‘Borz’ didn’t seem to appreciate that at all, and for good reason. He decided to clap back at the former champion but decided to take a dig at Strickland on a sensitive aspect of his life, his father.

“Why are you baby crying all the time? Father didn’t give you love or he showed his love to you too much,” Khamzat Chimaev tweeted in response to Sean Strickland. While ‘Tarzan’ seems to be preparing for his fight this weekend, there’s been no response from his end yet. But it remains to be seen if he claps back at Chimaev when he comes to learn about this tweet because the Chechnyan-born would follow that tweet up with an edited video of Strickland crying back when he talked about his issues with comedian Theo Von.

Having grown out of those troubles in the past, Sean Strickland now lives to fight inside the Octagon. Having touched UFC gold once, it remains to be seen if he can become the second 2-time middleweight champion when he steps inside the Octagon this weekend.