Sean Strickland, despite his recent loss to Dricus du Plessis, is exploring future fight possibilities and is now publicly challenging former welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, urging him to make good on past statements.
Muhammad has been critical of Strickland over the past year, even referring to the former middleweight king as a “coward” after Strickland`s defeat at UFC 312. Following Muhammad`s own loss to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315, Strickland was prompted about Muhammad`s earlier comments.
“Belal would be an engaging fight, that`d be a fun one,” Strickland told Helen Yee. “Belal, you really should step up, man. This is your chance. You can finally grow a pair, dude. All that stuff you talked, we can finally make it happen. You lost your belt, you got a bit roughed up, I got roughed up. We should make that fight happen, Belal. That would be a solid matchup, right?”
Regarding the weight class, Strickland was clear: “Well, you`re coming up to middleweight. I walk around [around 230 pounds], I`m not dropping down to welterweight. I`m not doing that weight cut anymore. He claimed he would come up to fight me. All that stuff he says on Instagram, like, `Hey, I`m going to come fight you, I`m going to do this.` Now you actually can. Do it for Palestine.”
Strickland`s recent record includes two losses in his last three fights – both to du Plessis – after his significant victory over Israel Adesanya for the UFC championship at UFC 293 in September 2023. The 34-year-old is eager to return to the octagon and mentioned he was interested in a fight with Reinier de Ridder after de Ridder`s submission win over Bo Nickal.
However, de Ridder was subsequently booked against Robert Whittaker as the main event for UFC Abu Dhabi in July. Strickland also stated he was offered a fight against a top-ranked middleweight opponent, but both he and the potential opponent ultimately declined the offer, according to Strickland.
“I wanted to fight that RDR kid [Reinier de Ridder], but [UFC matchmaker] Mick Maynard wanted me to fight Caio Borralho,” Strickland revealed. “I declined. Well, actually, we both kind of declined. It`s one of those strange situations where I know him. I know his wife, I know his family. It`s just awkward because I`m familiar with him and his family. It wouldn`t be enjoyable.”
“But that RDR… that would be an excellent fight. You`re a jiu-jitsu specialist, you defeated Bo Nickal… That would be a compelling matchup.”
