Sean Strickland believes the UFC may be going a little overboard on security measures to keep him separated from Khamzat Chimaev, because he knows he’s not going to be the person starting trouble.
With just a few days remaining until UFC 328 in New Jersey, Strickland and Chimaev have been isolated away from each other just to prevent any potential altercation that could affect their main event fight. Considering Strickland threatened to shoot Chimaev if he got jumped before the event, it’s understandable that the UFC might be nervous about a chaos erupting before these two actually make it to the octagon.
That said, Strickland promises if anything crazy popped off during fight week that he wouldn’t be the one to blame.
“I think the security is pretty not necessary,” Strickland told reporters Tuesday. “But it’s like how much money is the UFC making and spending on this fight? Chimaev won’t fight me. If he goes and gets one of his 10 friends to try to fight me, they’re in line to lose a lot of f*cking money.
“This is again why we go back to Chimaev, and I say he doesn’t have f*cking dignity. When in my life would you ever hear me say ‘I’m going to jump you’ or ‘my friends are going to jump you’ or ‘my religion’s going to jump you’ or ‘I’m going to do this.’ It’s like dude, you just act like a f*cking coward. You’re a dog. I would never say that. You think my fans would ever jump you? No, because my fans have f*cking dignity. They’re f*cking men unlike you, you third world f*cking dog.”
The animosity between Strickland and Chimaev has only continued to ratchet up as the fight draws closer.
It was after the comment Strickland made about packing a gun during fight week that led to Chimaev initially laughing at the threat but then mentioning that New Jersey has a prominent Muslim community that would definitely have his back if anything happened.
But Strickland says it’s that kind of response that has him concerned something bad could go down but he doesn’t buy that it would actually involve Chimaev trying to take a swing at him if they run into each other.
“I’m a man with some dignity so I would just be like ‘hello Chimaev, see you on Saturday,’” Strickland said. “Him on the other hand beign a f*cking dog would probably say something stupid and I would say all right, Chimaev let’s go you f*cking bitch and he’s going to run out that f*cking door and have all his little f*cking Chechen lackeys run in. Why? Because he’s a f*cking dog.”
After training with Chimaev briefly and calling him out for allegedly beating up less experienced and overmatched sparring partners, Strickland learned everything he needed to know about the reigning UFC middleweight champion.
That’s why Strickland isn’t watching his back trying to avoid Chimaev coming after him during fight week because he knows there’s no chance that would ever happen.
Instead, Strickland’s only real concern is Chimaev sending somebody from his team to do the dirty work for him, especially after hearing he was rolling with approximately 30 people in his entourage when fight week started.
“No, because I’m a f*cking man,” Strickland said about having his own team with him at all times. “I’m a grown ass f*cking man. I’m a f*cking American. I don’t roll around with a posse because I’m a scared little bitch.
“I’ll call Chimaev right now and we’ll go meet in the parking lot and guess what? I will be there alone. You’re going to be there with 30 f*cking guys because why? Even if in your heart, Chimaev, if you thought you’d beat me, you know there’s a chance that I f*cking drop you on that floor and I f*cking take your life. You know this and that little coward inside you will never f*cking man up and fight me. You’ll go get your lackeys, you’ll go get your 30 Chechens, you’ll hide behind your religion. You’re just a soft motherf*cking man.”
One scenario that feels almost unavoidable is Strickland coming face-to-face with Chimaev during one of the customary staredowns that happens at the pre-fight press conference and then again at the ceremonial weigh-ins.
UFC CEO Dana White said he informed the promotion’s broadcast partners at Paramount to avoid any potential run-ins between Strickland and Chimaev, which is why he shut down a pre-fight video and photo shoot that usually happens to hype the upcoming event.
But Strickland says he can engage in a faceoff with Chimaev without feeling the need to punch somebody he’s about to punch in an actual fight just days later. He just can’t say the same for Chimaev and his team.
“Here’s the thing, I’m a grown ass man,” Strickland said. “I shut the f*ck up, you shut the f*ck up, we can go look at each other for two seconds.
“But this guy’s a f*cking dog. I’ll tell you what, if he doesn’t have 10 of his friends, it should be fine. If he has 10 little Chechen friends, it won’t be fine.”
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