“All the demons are gone” - Sean Strickland buries hatchet with Valentina Shevchenko after ‘10 round death match’ helps him find peace
After a strange and unexpected online feud between Sean Strickland and Valentina Shevchenko surfaced, the UFC middleweight champion was uncharacteristically quick to bring it to a close.
The back-and-forth started with Strickland tweeting on-brand criticism of former UFC fighter Paige VanZant and all of women's MMA. Shevchenko quickly snapped back at Strickland, which led to the middleweight champion calling out the 'Bullet.' However, Strickland put an end to the bad blood after claiming to have cleared his head.
In their most recent exchange, Sean Strickland tweeted:
"Voices in my head are giving me peace now. Valentina, you're right, you have good head kicks. Next time you're in Vegas lets go shooting. Have a great day:)"
'Tarzan' has had many Twitter debates in the past with countless hot takes but rarely is the one to put an end to them as he did with Valentina Shevchenko. The former UFC women's flyweight champion has yet to respond to the recent response from Strickland.
Why did Sean Strickland upset Valentina Shevchenko?
In typical Sean Strickland fashion, the UFC's newest champion bashed former UFC fighter Paige VanZant seemingly unprovoked.
In the original tweet, Strickland wrote:
"Paige VanZant said she made more on onlyfans in 24 hours than she did in the UFC... you were signed because you're hot. Women's MMA is lame. Men will pay more to see you naked than to watch you fight."
Shevchenko was quick to call out Strickland's actions, referring to the middleweight as an 'offended kid' and accused his response to be coming from losing a round against a female training partner. 'Tarzan' replied back, saying:
"You look like you learned striking from a YouTube video. LMAO female MMA. It's like watching children fight... You only have a job because you know when to put heels on and take off your clothes."
However, Strickland tweeted out his apology to Shevchenko later in the same day, stating that a '10 round death match' of sparring helped him clear his mind. The champion appeared to want to clear the air with 'Bullet' and asked her to go shooting with him in the future.
Having just won the belt at UFC 293, Strickland will be attempting his first title defense in the first pay-per-view event of 2024 against Dricus Du Plessis in Canada.