Lance Spaude, Sean Strickland’s manager at Iridium Sports, says Khamzat Chimaev was not considered for the American’s first title defense.
Strickland became middleweight champion last September with a decision victory over Israel Adesanya. UFC CEO Dana White has since said that the winner of Khamzat Chimaev and Kamaru Usman in October would be Strickland’s next title contender. However, Sean Strickland will defend his middleweight title for the first time in the main event of UFC 297 on January 20 in Toronto against Dricus Du Plessis.
No Khamzat Chimaev in the equation
According to Spaude, Du Plessis was always the opponent, because there was no question of Chimaev.
“It was never about Chimaev. I don’t really know what Chimaev and his team are looking to do, but yeah, that wasn’t even really an option,” Spaude said on MMA Mania’s Sound & Pound podcast about Sean Strickland. “Maybe they’re looking to the future. Maybe his wrist or hand really is as bad as they say. We hear a whole bunch of things. Again, Sean is a guy who will do what the UFC asks him to do when they ask him to, as long as it all makes financial sense for him. »
As Lance Spaude says, Khamzat Chimaev’s injury may have kept him from fighting in January. But the manager says the only name that has been mentioned is that of Dricus Du Plessis. It’s also a fight that Sean Strickland is brimming with confidence for, as he says he’s a million times better than the South African.
“I think Dricus is so clumsy he’s good. I’m a million times better than him, I train the guys he fought, I know who he is. But he’s so clumsy that he’s good. It will be a war. This will be a tougher fight than Chimaev. Chimaev, he doesn’t deserve it. We all know it. The only reason Chimaev gets this chance is because he sells a lot of tickets. That’s it,” Strickland said on his YouTube channel.
Sean Strickland enters his UFC 297 title fight with a three-game winning streak.
