Front Page of Australian Newspaper Asks for Sean Strickland to be Knocked Out ahead of UFC 312
Australia is tired of Sean Strickland’s bullsh*t.
In a matter of hours, the former middleweight champion will look to reclaim his crown at UFC 312 when he challenges reigning titleholder Dricus Du Plessis inside the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. It will be his first title fight since surrendering the strap to ‘DDP’ a little more than a year ago at UFC 297 in Toronto.
Ahead of his headliner in The Land Down Under, Strickland ruffled the feathers of Aussies on Wednesday after he labeled them “English white trash” and criticized the country’s alleged lack of freedom.
“It’s a really beautiful country. I would consider Australians as English white trash,” Strickland said during the UFC 312 media day. “Some Irish, too; you know they sent the lot here. As an American white trash, I feel like I have a lot in common with you f*ckers.”
Strickland also slammed the country’s gun laws, many of which were introduced following the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 that saw 35 people killed and another 23 injured. To this day, it is the deadliest mass shooting in modern Australian history.
“You had one mass shooting and gave up all your guns, that was kind of pathetic,” he continued. “It’s the lack of freedom, dude. How insane is it that we’re in a modern country and hate speech is a thing? […] We’re in a modern country with running water, and you guys know: it’s real bad […] real f***ing bad, dude.”
Sean Strickland labeled an ‘imbecile’ by Aussie News Outlet
Strickland’s harsh words ended up on the cover of the Daily Telegraph with the publication dubbing him the “UFC’s biggest imbecile” and pleading for someone to “knock this guy out.”
As soon as the headline was brought to his attention, Strickland launched into yet another tirade claiming this is just another example of “communists” trying to control the media and suppress free speech.
“I come to this country and speak about freedom of speech, guns, and taxes, and these communists in the media try to put me down,” said Strickland. “Why? Because you want to control the media and you don’t like freedom of speech.”
Freedom of speech has been a hot-button topic in the UFC over the last couple of weeks. Particularly after featherweight standout Bryce Mitchell called Adolf Hitler a “good guy” on the debut episode of his Arkansanity podcast and said that Hitler is a guy he would have liked to go fishing with.
Mitchell’s comments were quickly condemned by Dana White, but the UFC CEO also made it abundantly clear that he would not punish ‘Thug Nasty’ for expressing his views, no matter how “ignorant” they are.
