After his five-round knockout victory over Paulo Costa in the co-main event of UFC 302, Sean Strickland remains at the center of the 185-pound championship discussion.
Strickland defeated Israel Adesanya to win the middleweight title at UFC 293, but vacated the title just one fight later in January, when he lost a close decision to Dorricus du Plessis at UFC 297. Adesanya has not fought since his loss to Strickland, but is expected to get his championship opportunity next against du Plessis.
Strickland is willing to wait however long it takes to get the reward he believes he deserves.
“I don’t care how long it takes. I don’t care how long it takes,” Strickland said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I want the gold medal, man. I want the gold medal. When you’re fighting any top-10 motherfucker, one wrong move and you get knocked out. I got punished. I fought Costa. I didn’t want to do it, but I did. Give me a chance for a title fight. If I beat Izzy, that motherfucker gets a chance for a title fight.”
Strickland’s loss to du Plessis was the closest of both fights, but was deemed a win by many in the crowd for the Extreme Couture representative. Strickland was not happy with the scorecards, which is one of the reasons he plans to stay on the sidelines until a title shot is ruled out.
“I’ll wait. I paid a shitty price. I got robbed in shitty Canada. [at UFC 297]”… I got robbed out there,” Strickland said. “Everybody knows I got fucking robbed, so I’m just gonna sit here in the gym and wait to be a team player and wait until they say, ‘Sean, beat this motherfucker.’
Part of the process of paying his dues was agreeing to face Costa at UFC 302. Strickland said he could have avoided the fight until he got a title opportunity, but he chose to accept the risky fight.
“I could wait, but then it would be like, ‘Oh, Shawn’s waiting. Shawn’s doing this.’ So I said, ‘Look, f**k it. I’m going to fight him.’ And I’m going to beat him and get a title shot,” Strickland said. “At the end of the day, I want that f**king gold belt, but I also want the money. If I get that f**king belt, I’m gonna get a lot more money. So I’m gonna get that belt, I’m gonna get the money.”
