"Don't hurt people"- Sean Strickland has some ironic advice for Khamzat Chimaev during a sparring session
Sean Strickland gained a reputation for being too rough during sparring after several videos surfaced showing him knocking people out in the gym. Now he's the one telling Khamzat Chimaev to take it easy during a training session.
Youcef Hollywood spent an afternoon filming Sean Strickland as he ran a pro class at the XTreme Couture gym in Las Vegas. Contrary to his reputation on social media as a borderline psychopath, the Strickland seen in the video comes across as a nice guy and strong leader.
Also in the gym that day are Darren Till and Khamzat Chimaev. Early into the training session, Strickland reminds Chimaev not to spar too hard, saying:
"He gets a little bit ... a little bit ... be nice! Khamzat, understand: you're better than most ... you're better than everybody. Don't hurt people."
See Sean Strickland implore Khamzat Chimaev not to go too hard during sparring:
Watch Sean Strickland knock out a sparring partner with a head kick
Sean Strickland has starred in several videos that show him beating up sparring partners pretty bad. One in particular that went viral featured the UFC fighter hitting his opponent with a head kick and knocking them out cold.
Sean Strickland knocks his sparring partner out with a head kick 😳 https://t.co/dRbjFQ5RWJ
According to Strickland, the violence was justified because he warned the guy he was going to go hard. He told Mirror Fighting:
"I get the call from somebody who says 'My boy is in town, he has a kickboxing match, go spar him.' So I say all right, f*** it, but before we start I let him know 'I'm not your friend, I'm not here to be your f***ing buddy, I'm here to hurt you, f*** you up.' So I just beat the f*** out of him, but it wasn't sneaky, I didn't lie to him, I didn't hide my video camera."
Strickland explained that it's not something he does to proper teammates.
"I don't post videos of me hurting my friends, if you're a main training partner of mine and I've knocked you out, that's never seeing the light of day. But if you're just some random guy that shows up to the gym and I put you out, yeah I'll post it, I don't care."
Safe to say 'sparring' with Sean Strickland is intense... 😳 https://t.co/N6MyT2b2l1
According to Strickland, he's been on the wrong end of sparring knockouts and is "not a b***h" about it. He even goes hard with Francis Ngannou, which doesn't seem like a great idea for his long-term health.