Although he has a polarizing personality, no one can deny that Sean Strickland’s life story is truly inspirational and emotional. Years of personal problems in his family life did not stop ‘Tarzan’ from achieving his dream of becoming a UFC champion.

Currently, Sean Strickland is gearing up to face Paulo Costa at UFC 302. After failing to defend his title at UFC 297, this is going to be an important fight for ‘Tarzan’ to get back into title contention. His professional life is pretty set, but a lot of times in the recent past, Strickland has openly talked about his troubled relationship with his father. Here is everything we know about it.

Who is Sean Strickland’s father and why is their relationship complicated?

Corona, California is where Strickland grew up. ‘Tarzan’ has claimed to have had a physically and mentally abusive father. Nevertheless, the name and other vital details of his father have never been revealed by the former UFC middleweight champion.

But at the same time, he has repeatedly and openly talked about the abuse he faced from his father. Months ago, the UFC star appeared in an interview with Brendan Schaub, where he bore his heart out. “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,” he said, in the interview.

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In another interview, he revealed how he had to engage in a physical altercation with his father to save his mother- “He gets on top of my mom and is like strangling her. Saying, ‘Tonight’s the night you’re gonna f*cking die’. 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.”

Sean Strickland’s emotional conversation with Theo Von

Recently, the former UFC champion appeared in Theo Von’s podcast. Currently, the podcast hasn’t been released, but Strickland revealed how things got emotional as he talked about his father on the show.

“It was bad.. That little b*tch cry, you know the one were you prep talk yourself the whole time in your head…” Ever since this tweet, fans have been eagerly waiting for the podcast.

His problematic past was also recently brought up by Dricus Du Plessis in a press conference. In 2017, Strickland’s father passed away due to cancer.

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Despite his controversial personality, Strickland has received enormous support from MMA fans after revelations about his personal life. What are your views on this? Let us know in the comments below.