Former fighter Chael Sonnen has no qualms about Sean Strickland getting the next opportunity at the UFC middleweight title.
The promotion confirmed earlier this month that Strickland will indeed get his shot at redemption opposite reigning 185-pound kingpin Dricus Du Plessis 13 months on from their showdown in Canada this past January.
The pair are tasked with headlining the UFC 312 pay-per-view in Sydney, Australia next February, with the South African returning to the nation in which he recorded a successful first defense of the gold against Israel Adesanya this past August.
Confirmation of Strickland’s shot has split opinion. Many expected the chance to go to Khamzat Chimaev after his emphatic submission win over Robert Whittaker, with even the champ himself branding “Borz” his preference.
Sonnen, though, doesn’t think there can be any complaints about the fight going to “Tarzan.”
During a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sonnen dismissed any and all claims that Strickland is being handed the chance to return to the throne after his short four-month reign before running into Du Plessis.
And in contrast to many in the MMA community, Sonnen seemingly saw “Tarzan’s” five-round performance opposite Paulo Costa earlier this year as worthy of a shot at the gold that he entered 2024 holding.
“Daniel Cormier asked me what I thought about Sean Strickland being next for Dricus Du Plessis,” Sonnen said. “Excuse me? What do I think about that? That’s a great question to ask me six months ago when Sean Strickland took out Paulo Costa five straight rounds and became the number one contender.
“Do I believe Chimaev should be next? Yes, with the information I have now. But I’m going to get new information that I would like to be able to process the night that Strickland and Du Plessis fight. And not for nothing, if Strickland beats him, we’ve got to go into the trilogy match,” Sonnen continued. “The idea that Sean should somehow be happy, ‘Thank you to the Twittersphere for doing this, thank you to Dana White and Hunter Campbell.’ F you, times three. He took it. Strickland hasn’t been given a damn thing since he got here, and the only things he has are the things that he took.”
Strickland had made it clear in the aftermath of his lackluster win over “Borrachinha” that he would entertain nothing but a second dance with Du Plessis next time out.
While the likes of Whittaker and plenty of fans were surprised to see that stance rewarded by the promotion, “Tarzan” will be heading back Down Under, where he shocked the world in September 2023 by dethroning Israel Adesanya.
