Chael Sonnen wasn’t shopping for what Sean Strickland was promoting early in his profession.
At present, Strickland is taken into account among the best strikers within the recreation, having dominated former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya to seize the UFC’s middleweight title in September 2023. Sadly, Strickland’s reign got here to a fast finish courtesy of a questionable split-decision loss in opposition to present 185-pound champion Dricus Du Plessis.
On February 8, ‘Tarzan’ will get the possibility to make it proper and reclaim the crown when he runs it again with ‘DDP’ at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia.
Forward of their extremely anticipated rematch, Sonnen recalled the primary time he met a 21-year-old Strickland who was boasting about being an undefeated fighter with a whopping 17 victories already to his credit score.
Sonnen is ‘Very proud’ of what Sean Strickland has achieved
In fact, ‘The American Gangster’ thought Strickland was simply one other child blowing smoke — till he noticed him compete.
“Met Sean Strickland at the Reign Training Center,” Sonnen stated on his YouTube channel. “21 years outdated, little liar! He comes within the room, and we begin figuring out. He tells me he’s 17-0 and the King of the Cage champion. You’ll be able to’t get 17 fights at 21 years outdated. You’ll be able to’t do it. No fee would offer you that many fights.
“And I remember leaving and telling Miss Pretty, ‘That guy says he’s 17-0.’ And she’s like, ‘Do you think he’s lying?’ I go, ‘He would be 17-0. If he said 17 fights, he would have won them all. That guy’s really good.’ Went on to be a world champion. Very proud of him.”
At present, Strickland is 29-6 in his combined martial arts profession with 16 of his victories coming underneath the UFC banner.
