Sean Strickland Goes Off After Suffering Latest UFC Defeat

Getty Sean Strickland

Middleweight contender Sean Strickland ripped the judges who handed Jared Cannonier a win over him last weekend during the final UFC event of 2022.

The 31-year-old brash combatant hoped to get back onto the winning track after his brutal knockout loss to future-middleweight champion Alex Pereira back in July at UFC 276. But, unfortunately for Strickland, he is now on the first losing streak of his 25-5 professional mixed martial arts career. “The Killa Gorilla” and Strickland battled in a striking affair and after five rounds, the three cage-side judges handed in their scorecards, which ultimately granted Cannonier the win via split decision (49–46, 46–49, 49–46).

Heading into the fight, Cannonier was ranked No. 3 in the middleweight division per the official UFC standings, and Strickland sat at No. 7. It’s unclear if their rankings will shift when they update later this week.

Strickland Took Aim at the Judges’ Expertise, Congratulated Cannonier on the Win

Although he gave props to Cannonier, Strickland went off on the judges in an Instagram video posted the day after their UFC Apex match.

“I’m a f****** sore loser,” Strickland said. “Hats off to Jared. But again, you have judges that don’t know how to f****** do their job. You actually look at the scorecards and you look at the significant strikes and you look at how many times I wobbled him, and you know, you have people — experts in the field — come up to me and say, ‘Yeah man, I don’t know how you lost that one. You landed way more. The scorecards should say it.’ So anyways, I’m going to shut the f*** up now and get off my soapbox. Thank you guys for supporting me. Thank you to the UFC. Back to the drawing board. On to the next one. Thank you guys.”

Strickland also wrote a scathing caption for the post. “I just want to ask a judge when you go back and look at the data do you ever feel bad for robbing guys because you don’t know a damn thing about fighting?? Hmmm anyways thank you everyone.. Coaches, fans and haters! Onto the next!!” Strickland wrote.

The judges charged with scoring the bout were Derek Cleary and Junichiro Kamijo, who gave Cannonier the fight, and Sal D’amato, who had Strickland the winner.

Strickland Was on His Way to Challenging for UFC Gold Before the Back-to-Back Defeats

Strickland’s six-fight win streak, which was bolstered by his controversial personality, had him on the verge of fighting for UFC gold. When he entered the Octagon against Pereira in July, he was riding the momentum of back-to-back main event decision wins over Jack Hermansson and Uriah Hall. And if he had beaten the powerful Brazilian, Strickland could’ve received the next shot at Israel Adesanya.

That’s not how things worked out, however. “Poatan” knocked out Strickland in the opening round and Pereira went on to take Adesanya’s belt via fifth-round TKO in November at UFC 281.

Strickland’s contest with Cannonier — who fought and lost to Adesanya the same night Strickland took on Pereira —was an opportunity for “Tarzan” to place himself back at the top of the division. However, since he didn’t secure the win over the former 185-pound title challenger, Strickland will now face an even steeper uphill climb toward title contention.