‘He Doesn’t Deserve A Title Shot’

Undisputed middleweight champion, Sean Strickland has claimed that whereas he’s keen to defend his title in opposition to the undefeated, Khamzat Chimaev subsequent following his UFC 294 title eliminator victory, so far as he’s involved the Chechen-finisher has but to correctly earned his title struggle in opposition to him. 

Strickland, the newly-minted undisputed middleweight titleholder, gained his championship spoils simply final month in the principle occasion of UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia, handing two-time champion, Israel Adesanya a surprising upset win in a unanimous determination success.

And provided the prospect to defend his title in a short-notice turnaround at UFC 294 over the course of the weekend, Strickland turned down the chance to struggle the undefeated Chimaev, with former welterweight champion and prior foe, Kamaru Usman, because of the short-notice of a possible conflict.

Sean Strickland claims Khamzat Chimaev hasn’t earned title struggle

Reacting to Chimaev’s shut, majority determination win over common-opponent, Usman, Strickland claimed that whereas he had no concern with preventing the previous subsequent in his first tried title protection, in his opinion, Chimaev had but to earn a title struggle.

“The one factor I like about (Khamzat) Chimaev is that he sells fights,” Sean Strickland instructed UFC Fight Pass’ Extra Rounds. “For some cause, folks f*cking like him or don’t like him, I don’t know. To me, he’s a f*cking paycheck. He sells a variety of fights. Folks pay to observe however he f*cking hasn’t earned it [title fight].”