Sean Strickland was fired up at media day ahead of his fight with Paulo Costa at UFC 302 this Saturday.
No topic was off limits and no subject was safe as Strickland was asked about a variety of topics at his first pre-fight scrum since losing the middleweight title to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 in January.
One matter that was addressed was the topic of the new gloves that are set to debut at UFC 302. Strickland makes his 22nd appearance for the promotion this weekend so he’s as qualified as anyone to judge the equipment and he is not pleased.
“They suck,” Strickland said. “Can we talk to the person who designed these gloves? Have you ever been in a fight in your f*cking life? It’s like you get these f*cking dorks that have no idea. Like, this sounds like a good idea and they make it. Same thing with motorcycles. I’ve bought motorcycles and they put so much stupid sh*t on it. How did you assh*les think this was a good idea?
“So no, they absolutely suck. You dropped the ball on that one.”
Specifically, because the gloves are ‘more stitched’ as Strickland put it, he believes they could lead to fighters suffering more cuts. He also doubts their efficacy in preventing eye pokes, stating that those fouls are due to fighter behavior and no change in gloves will make a difference.
“If you get cut because you get hit in the f*cking head, don’t get hit in the f*cking head you don’t get cut,” Strickland said. “You get poked in the eyes because you f*cking opened opened your hand, so don’t open your hands and you won’t get poked in the eye. That’s people creating problems that aren’t there.”
Strickland was also asked about the possibility of fighting without gloves when his MMA career is over. The 33-year-old has no date in mind for a potential retirement, but one thing he can say with confidence is that he doesn’t see himself competing for the BKFC anytime soon, if ever.
“How much would I fight f*cking bare-knuckle for?” Strickland said. “Nothing they would pay me. Bare-knuckle, you want to talk about f*cking crooks, they’re paying their guys sh*t. [BKFC] is one of those organizations where you hear these numbers, it’s all bullsh*t.
“If you look at the lowest rung of the guys, they’re f*cking breaking their hands, breaking their orbitals, and they’re making a couple of thousand bucks. Bare-knuckle is f*cking trash.”
Don’t expect to see Strickland involved in influencer boxing anytime either, though he has had notable run-ins with personalities from that world in the past. In February, Strickland bloodied social media guru Sneako in a clip that went viral, and he’s also publicly butted heads with influencer boxer Bryce Hall.
Hall previously said that he’d like to spar Strickland, much to the fighter’s annoyance.
“It’s actually funny, we have people in the same circle, like, ‘No, he just wants to be your friend,’” Strickland said. “Bryce Hall, you said some stupid sh*t and I’m going to f*cking backhand you. I’m going to hit you right in the f*cking face and at that moment you can choose to be a f*cking man and take your ass-beating or you can be a little bitch, but after I’m done f*cking beating the sh*t out of you, we can be friends.”
Even returning UFC star Conor McGregor wasn’t safe from Strickland’s invective on Wednesday.
When Strickland was told about a recent online study that placed him behind “The Notorious” on a list of the most attractive men in MMA, Strickland let McGregor have it.
“Conor?” Strickland said. “No, that f*cking little leprechaun? That motherf*cker looks like he’s putting his head under f*cking urinals, my man, no f*cking way.”