UFC star Sean Strickland has broken his silence after storming the cage and punching a fighter for what he did in a win over his teammate.
The 34-year-old's last bout in UFC was in February of this year when he lost his rematch with Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight title via unanimous decision in Sydney, Australia.
But Strickland was involved in an altercation on Sunday when he was in the corner for a longtime teammate who competed on the Tuff-N-Uff 145 card in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Miles Hunsinger of the Xtreme Couture gym squared off against Luis Hernandez and was submitted courtesy of a standing guillotine choke in the second round.
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But while Hernandez shook the hand of Hunsinger, he goaded both Strickland and teammate Chris Curtis by performing a "suck it" gesture and hurling expletives.
Strickland and Curtis did not let the actions slide and immediately rushed into the cage, with the former landing a number of punches on Hernandez.
Security intervened and eventually both men were escorted out of The Theatre at SAHARA.
Sean Strickland breaks silence after storming cage and punching fighter
Not for the first time, Strickland hit headlines for the wrong reasons but on X, the former middleweight champion claimed he "wasn't even vocal" in the corner and stated that Hernandez "wanted to antagonise" him.
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On his Instagram story, Strickland explained his actions further - stressing that although he regrets putting himself in the situation through being in the corner, he was not capable of ignoring the gesture made by Hernandez as his "soul will not allow" it.
Strickland added: "So after the fight, you guys see me corner guys all the time, I’m the first one to shake their hand and say ‘I wish you well, on to the next one’. But after the fight this guy comes up to me, calls me by name, ‘Strickland’, calls me a b****, says he’s going to f*** me up.
“Does the hand gesture…as a man, I’m not capable not to answer that. If I walk down the street, if I leave my house and somebody says that, my soul will not allow that to not go unanswered. I cannot do it, I cannot f******* do it…
“If I could go back, would I just not corner the fight? Would I not put myself in that situation? Yes.
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“But I just don’t have the ability to let a man talk to me like that. Who I am as a person, I will never allow that. So it is what it is, man.”
Strickland's UFC return could be seriously impacted by what went down on Sunday as the card was overseen by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and he could potentially be facing punishment in the form of a suspension.
At the time of writing there has been no comment from the Commission, nor UFC chief Dana White.
Topics: UFC, Sean Strickland, MMA
Josh Lawless