Sean Strickland 'put himself in a very good position' by facing Abus Magomedov, says Dana White - "Look at what he did"
Dana White showered praise on Sean Strickland for taking the Abus Magomedov fight.
It turns out that a lot of middleweights stayed away from the German fighter given his knockout potential. Strickland stepped up to fight the unranked but lethal opponent and put his seventh rank on the line.
He delivered a great performance, knocking out Magomedov in the second round. The risk paid off as the outspoken fighter has now gotten in the UFC president’s good books.
Dricus Du Plessis achieved a bigger feat at this past weekend’s UFC 290 event, where he defeated Robert Whittaker via second-round TKO. As a result, the South African fighter has a stronger case for the title shot.
During the UFC 290 post-fight press conference, MMA journalist James Lynch asked Dana White if Sean Strickland is second in line to challenge Israel Adesanya for the title.
White did not give a direct answer to the question but praised Strickland nevertheless:
“Well, Strickland put himself in a very good position… That week I was saying to the press, ‘Win, lose or draw, nobody wanted to fight this guy.’ Strickland who’s ranked number seven stepped up to the plate, took this fight and look at what he did! So yeah, he gets a lot of credit for taking and winning that fight. Especially winning the fight in the way that he did!”
Watch Dana White make the statement below:
Sean Strickland has another fight in mind before the title shot
Dana White is impressed with Sean Strickland’s UFC Vegas 76 performance. However, Strickland does not agree with the way that fight came about.
While speaking during his appearance on the JRE MMA Show, the 32-year-old fighter shed light on the role that MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz allegedly played in making the fight happen.
He reiterated it while speaking to James Lynch for Sportskeeda MMA, stating that he is up for fighting Abdelaziz now:
“[Ali] watched me spar and then next thing you know it’s like, ‘Hey, three weeks later we got this guy we want you to fight., There’s a lot of f***ed up s*** you guys, I’m not gonna go into it. [The fight] felt like a little personal… There’s a chance that me and Ali are gonna be fist fighting…I’m really hoping that I see Ali, it’s like ‘Oh Sean you’re a white trash motherf***er, I like you.’ Or, it could be like, ‘Hey f*** you Sean.’ Either way man, I hope it’s cool. But if not, I’m always down for a good time,” Sean Strickland said.
See the full interview below:
Israel Adesanya will most likely defend his title against Dricus Du Plessis next. But if the fight falls apart due to any reason, we seemingly know who is going to be the UFC’s next choice of opponent for Adesanya.