Sean Strickland has voiced his strong disapproval of Khamzat Chimaev’s decision to share footage of their sparring session, viewing it as a revelation of Chimaev’s character.
Strickland is scheduled to challenge the reigning middleweight champion, Chimaev, in the main event of UFC 328 this Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The rivalry between Strickland and Chimaev had been escalating prior to the official announcement of UFC 328. As fight week progresses and the fighters continue their verbal sparring, Chimaev appears to have intensified the animosity with a recent social media post.
On Tuesday, the undefeated fighter, Chimaev, released a 25-second clip from a sparring session with Sean Strickland at the Xtreme Couture gym. This sparring encounter has been a recurring topic of debate between the two rivals, with both fighters offering differing accounts and continuing to exchange insults.
The released clip featured only brief striking exchanges between the fighters, accompanied by the caption, “I am bullying weak people.” No grappling was shown, and the footage did not clearly indicate one fighter dominating the other.
Sean Strickland now believes this footage only confirmed his negative perception of Khamzat Chimaev.
Sean Strickland Criticizes Khamzat Chimaev After Sparring Footage Emerges Before UFC 328
During the UFC 328 media day, Sean Strickland commented on Khamzat Chimaev’s release of footage from their previous training session leading up to their title bout. The former middleweight champion dismissed the clip as merely a light sparring round and stated he was unaware it was being filmed.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Strickland stated. “The guy’s just a little fu*king rat. One, I didn’t know we were filming. Those are our warmup rounds. You’re just a weak man. You’re just a weak, weak man. It’s like what is the point? We’re light sparring. I mean those shorts are a little questionable on my part. They were Amazon. It was a bad angle.”
The outspoken American also disclosed that he only sparred with Chimaev once, despite numerous attempts to secure additional rounds. Strickland contends that Chimaev showed little interest in continuing the session, which is why he feels the brief encounter has been overemphasized.
“We’ve only sparred once and we did like a three-round spar. We sparred once. I kept telling you this. When I got to a gym, I want to spar the best guy. I want to spar him but he would always just go beat up the lower level guys.”
