Sean strickland rips Khamzat Chimaev after UFC 294, questions résumé: ‘He doesn’t deserve a title shot’
Undisputed middleweight champion, Sean Strickland has claimed that while he is willing to defend his title against the undefeated, Khamzat Chimaev next following his UFC 294 title eliminator victory, as far as he’s concerned the Chechen-finisher has yet to properly earned his title fight against him.
Strickland, the newly-minted undisputed middleweight titleholder, won his championship spoils just last month in the main event of UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia, handing two-time champion, Israel Adesanya a shocking upset win in a unanimous decision success.
And offered the chance to defend his title in a short-notice turnaround at UFC 294 over the course of the weekend, Strickland turned down the opportunity to fight the undefeated Chimaev, with former welterweight champion and prior foe, Kamaru Usman, due to the short-notice of a potential clash.
Sean Strickland claims Khamzat Chimaev hasn’t earned title fight
Reacting to Chimaev’s close, majority decision win over common-opponent, Usman, Strickland claimed that while he had no issue with fighting the former next in his first attempted title defense, in his opinion, Chimaev had yet to earn a title fight.
“The only thing I like about (Khamzat) Chimaev is that he sells fights,” Sean Strickland told UFC Fight Pass’ Extra Rounds. “For some reason, people f*cking like him or don’t like him, I don’t know. To me, he’s a f*cking paycheck. He sells a lot of fights. People pay to watch but he f*cking hasn’t earned it [title fight].”
“He doesn’t f*cking deserve it but here we are,” Sean Strickland explained. “Give it to him. He sells a lot of fights. I’ll go f*cking fight the man for five rounds. But no, he has not earned it. He doesn’t f*cking deserve it and getting a decision with a welterweight off the couch does not f*cking earn it.”
Following Strickland’s comments, Chimaev appeared to fire a warning shot at the incumbent, claiming he would likely finish him with relative ease if they eventually share the Octagon with each other.
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