Sean Strickland was not ready to rematch Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312.
Strickland lost his middleweight title to Du Plessis at UFC 297. He rebounded with a win over Paulo Costa, which earned him a title-fight rematch against the South African at UFC 312 last February. Strickland wound up losing in more decisive fashion.
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According to Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC), he entered that fight compromised. He indicated that he was pressured by the UFC into accepting the rematch.
“Before the Dricus fight, I was f*cking riding (motorcycles) with Axell Hodges and I broke my shoulder,” Strickland said in an interview with the Kairouz Bros. “So I was in Colombia getting stem cells on my shoulder and they hit me up for the fight, and the thing with the UFC, you don’t say no.
“They are pimps. You don’t say no the masters. So I was kind of backed up into a corner taking that fight. So taking this time off, letting my body heal has been amazing. This shoulder feels f*cking great. I do miss fighting and I miss performing, but it’s been nice to be a fat, lazy, piece of sh*t for a while.”
Strickland returns against streaking contender Anthony Hernandez (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 267 main event on Feb. 21 from Toyota Center in Houston (Paramount+).
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean Strickland ‘backed in a corner’ to take Dricus Du Plessis rematch
