Sean Strickland opened up on his childhood trauma in a revealing conversation with Theo Von, who teared up following the emotional moment.
The UFC middleweight champion joined Von on his This Past Weekend podcast.
Strickland, who doesn't mince his words having jumped to the defence of Leon Edwards following Colby Covington's vile taunt, spoke about his difficult upbringing as a kid in California.
He recounted some of the horrific trauma he suffered when he was growing up, revealing the alleged domestic abuse. (WARNING: Graphic detail below).
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"I was in probably third or fourth grade, I used to always sleep in my mum's room because I thought my dad was going to kill my mom," the 32-year-old revealed via MMA Fighting.
"So I would sleep by the door, I’d sleep under the bed. I’d sleep by the door because I thought my dad was going to kill my mom."
Strickland added: "One day, it was so f**ked up, they just got in a bad fight, it was like third, fourth grade, my dad was like 'f*** that, he’s not sleeping in here tonight, kick him out'.
"So I like army crawled under the bed, and I’m sleeping under the bed. I’m like laying under the bed as they’re fighting, because I think my dad was going to kill my mom.
"My dad gets on top of my mom, and I remember he said, 'I’m going to f**king kill you tonight'. Maybe it’s just rough sex, we don’t know at this moment. I’m under the bed, and he starts strangling her. I get out, and the only thing I can see is a guitar, I just f**king crack him in the head and call the cops. I run down the street to call the cops, he’s arrested, and my dumb ass mom bails him out of jail. I would say that’s the tip of the iceberg.
"I remember I used to just sit there and hug my mom’s leg in the kitchen," he continued. "We had this little nook, and she would go in the nook, and I would sit there and all night long, I’m by the feet of my mom and my dad [is saying], 'I’m going to f**king kill you'.
"He would talk about burning her face with acid. I’m in elementary school. He’d always tell her, 'If you cheat on me' - and she probably was cheating on him - 'If you cheat on me, I’m going to cut you up and put you in a bottle of acid and bury you'.
"Now you fast forward this, I don’t go to school. I’m up until 3 in the morning, and I couldn’t stay awake in school. I stopped believing in God when I was in elementary school. I was laying in bed crying thinking about killing myself. There can’t be a f**king God here. How is there a God. Why would I be in this situation if there was a God? There ain’t no f**king god. My earliest memories. When I think back when I was a kid, I can’t recall one good memory, not one f**king good memory as a kid."
Strickland shocked the MMA world when he dethroned Israel Adesanya of the UFC middleweight championship.
He dominated Adesanya at UFC 293 to claim the 185lbs title.
The American makes the first defence of his belt against Dricus Du Plessis this month at UFC 297.
Topics: UFC, Sean Strickland
Nasir Jabbar