Why Sean Strickland is hated by UFC fans, explained

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland is arguably the most polarizing figure in MMA. From his political banter online to his brash style on the microphone, he garners a lot of love or hate, depending on the UFC fan.

Let’s take a closer look at why this top middleweight contender is so hated by UFC fans.

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Strickland’s fight with the Liberals

The former middleweight champion has always taken on the left

At a time when the US is fairly evenly divided between political parties and people always seem to identify with one “side,” Strickland is clearly not left-wing. He has launched countless verbal attacks on America’s liberals on social media.

When he calls them “dirty” or makes homophobic remarks, it becomes pretty clear that Strickland harbors a strange, intense hatred for about half the country he says he loves so much. More on his hypocrisy later.

This hatred of liberals could be genuine, or it could fit the mold of his largest fan base, which is on the right side of the political spectrum. These things are difficult to talk about because the world is divided enough, it’s never good when someone spreads hatred against a group of people.

Strickland is clearly a supporter of anti-liberal political ideologies, which is fine, that’s his right as an American. But that gives about half the country and the UFC fan base a reason to dislike him and throw hate at him.

This is interesting because none of this has anything to do with his performance in the cage. It’s just the foundation of hate that makes it even easier for fans with liberal views to hate other areas of Strickland.

Strickland talks a lot, but does he also act?

His fighting style is not as much fun as his biggest fans think

Any intelligent UFC fan will recognize what kind of fighter Strickland is, he has a unique style and won the world championship against one of the best strikers to ever step into the Octagon after beating everyone he needed to beat and being a great “companion” to the UFC.

Strickland seemingly trains every day and spends most of his time sparring. Many sports scientists would say this is not a good idea for endurance and longevity, but Strickland has used this training regimen to develop himself into a world-class MMA fighter.

He has a perfect command of his awkward style and can control distance very well against many different types of fighters. He is also a high level grappler when he needs to use those skills.

Other than that, Strickland doesn’t generate much excitement in the Octagon, other than what he says into the microphone before the fight. He fights with a lot of pressure, but mostly uses jabs and kicks to the body. In his last 12 UFC fights, he has only 2 TKO/KO wins.

So it’s a difficult style for fans to see a fighter talk about “being in wars” and putting on “shows for the fans” and then throw 200 jabs for 25 minutes. The skills are there and for some it’s entertaining to watch, but not for the Strickland haters.

He has the skills to stay at the top of the middleweight division and will most likely get his next title shot in late 2024 or early 2025.

The hypocrisy of Sean Strickland

It’s easy to become the butt of a joke online if you’re a hypocrite

• Between fights, he engages in verbal exchanges and talks about very personal things from his opponents’ lives, but cried in a podcast when others returned the favor.
• Speaks of “boring” wrestlers and fighters, but has only achieved one TKO/KO victory in his last 10 fights.

The post embedded above sparked outrage from Strickland haters around the world. Ahead of his first title defense against Dricus Du Plessis, Strickland spoke about his past trauma and stated that Du Plessis’ comments at the press conference were “off limits.”

In short, Strickland made a name for himself by saying these horrible things to fighters and their families. He talked about the fighters’ women, cultures and ethnicities, mentioned that he still wanted to kill someone, and threatened countless others.

This guy is crazy and clearly has severe trauma and mental instability that he needs to work through in order to heal. The only problem is that he says these horrible things about people and then cries about his trauma on a podcast and criticizes others for responding in the same tone.

It’s easy for fans to make fun of and hate Strickland when he does this. It’s a very strange dynamic to see unfold with a UFC world champion dealing with his mental illness in real time.

Why is Sean Strickland so easy to hate?

The conclusion

• Admitted to being a former neo-Nazi.
• Anti-LGBTQ attitude
• He admitted that he felt the urge to kill someone.

It’s pretty easy to understand why UFC fans hate Strickland. He’s a hateful man who spews rude comments and hatred towards groups of people that make up a large portion of the world. From the LGBTQ community, to an entire political party, to a man who simply attacks another man for not being like him anymore – a guy who admits to having serious mental health issues.

It’s a big mix of hypocrisy, hate and nonsense that makes someone like Sean Strickland a hated person in the MMA community. But the way the world is right now, there’s a whole other side of the spectrum that absolutely loves him. And that’s OK too.

Like most people in this world, Strickland has positive sides. He works hard and cares about his country. He may not think like many other people, but there is a lot of good along with the bad.