MMA News Roundup: Sean Strickland slams Ronda Rousey for making light of suicide, former UFC fighter reveals biggest regret, Henry Cejudo disapproves of Dustin Poirier's P4P ranking
Welcome to today's edition of Sportskeeda's daily MMA News Roundup, where we present the biggest UFC updates and other stories from the world of mixed martial arts.
In today's issue, we talk about Sean Strickland criticizing Ronda Rousey's comments from the past, Henry Cejudo dismissing Dustin Poirier's place in the pound-for-pound rankings, and more.
#3. Sean Strickland criticizes Ronda Rousey for her 'suicidal thoughts' comment after Holly Holm loss
Ronda Rousey had her unblemished 12-0 MMA record derailed by an aggressive Holly Holm, who finished her with a second-round head kick that was followed by punches.
In an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show following the loss, Rousey admitted to having suicidal thoughts in the moments right after the defeat. However, her mind swayed at the sight of her husband, Travis Browne, and the idea of having a family with him.
Watch Rousey's comments in the video below:
While suicide is not something to be mocked about, Sean Strickland believes Rousey's comments were a disservice to people who suffer from depression and other mental health issues.
Mincing no words, the UFC middleweight voiced his disapproval of Rousey's comments in his latest post on Instagram:
"I don't know when suicide became f***ing cool... Depression is like cancer, it's f***ing terminal. It's like herpes. You might not have it, but you always f***ing have it... And suicidal, for the people who have it, it's even f***ing worse... It's not a fleeting thought because you lost a fight. And I hate Ronda Rousey because she used something so f***ed up and serious as a, 'But I overcame it' strong moment. Which it's f***ing not."
In the beginning of the video, Strickland warned his fans that he has talked about the same topic on Brendan Schaub's Food Truck Diaries recently. He also slammed shows like 13 Reasons Why for glorifying suicide.
Watch the video below:
Strickland previously said that he was aware he had made some pretty polarized comments on Schaub's podcast, which is yet to be released.
#2. Josh Thomson gets emotional about his father's passing
Josh Thomson once missed his father's call while training and that turned out to be the biggest regret of his life.
The former UFC fighter shared the incident on an episode of the Weighing In podcast recently:
"My one regret, and I don't think I've ever told anyone this - it's just that there was one regret. It was the weekend that my dad passed. It was on a Thursday, which was my birthday, he called me and I missed his call because I was training and I looked at my phone as he called and I was like 'I'll call back right after and I forgot.'"
He didn't get around to making the call over the weekend as well. Unfortunately, he never got to speak to his father again before he passed.
Not much is known about Thomson's relationship with his father, except that the fighter lived with him in Idaho, where he went to high school and competed in wrestling.
Here's the full episode of Weighing In (Thomson's comments are from 5:26 mark):
#1 Why is Dustin Poirier in the UFC P4P rankings? - Henry Cejudo
Dustin Poirier is the only name in the top 10 of the UFC pound-for-pound rankings who is not a champion or has recently lost the belt to a challenger. Henry Cejudo staunchly disapproves of this and blames the fans.
The former two-division UFC champion made his stance on the matter clear in a recent video on his YouTube channel:
"I don't know why Poirier is pound-for-pound. I really don't. If I was a champion and I had a belt... With all due respect to Poirier, there's no way you can put guys that have been knocked out and submitted and all that on the pound-for-pound list. But anyways, that's you guys. That's you fans."
The current P4P rankings on UFC's official website has featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski topping the list, followed by former lightweight king Charles Oliveira and recently dethroned former welterweight champ Kamaru Usman. Next comes Francis Ngannou, Leon Edwards, and Aljamain Sterling.
Dustin Poirier claims the No. 8 spot on the list, ranked ahead of flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo and light heavyweight titleholder Jiri Prochazka.