Sean Strickland has never hidden his struggles, but one of the most revealing stories of his life came during a marathon appearance on The Shawn Ryan Show.
The reigning UFC middleweight champion opened up about battling suicidal thoughts as a young man, recalling how a former girlfriend named Jackie intervened during a dangerous moment involving a loaded revolver.
If I was drinking, I’d be dead or I’d be in prison,” Strickland said. “That’s what drinking does, it lowers your inhibition… I can’t even own a revolver. I have one little .22 revolver that I don’t f–k with because every time I pick it up, I can’t stop thinking about killing myself.
Strickland then recounted an incident that nearly turned fatal.
When I was younger, dude, I had this girl save my life,” he said. “I had this .38, I’m just f–king spinning it… You saved my life, Jackie, thank you.
As he described it, he became fixated on the odds of surviving.
I was like, ‘We should do it.’ And she’s like, ‘Sean, no. Don’t do it.’ And I was like, ‘No, what are the odds? Like, one in six? One in six. That’s good odds. I’d take those odds.'
Strickland said he continued working himself up before Jackie stepped in.
I cock it back, dude, and she starts f–king crying and grabs the gun out of my hand. Says, ‘Sean, if you ever f–king do that, I’ll leave you.’ … Let’s just see what would have happened. Open it up. I was about to shoot myself in the f–king head.
