Sean Strickland thinks you'd need to put a gun to the UFC's head in order for the promotion to do the right things.
That sentiment came from Strickland's first outspoken moment of fight week for this Saturday's UFC 302 pay-per-view, where the former middleweight champion is tasked with getting the better of Paulo Costa in a five-round co-headliner.
Having lost the title to Dricus Du Plessis this past January, "Tarzan" was firm in calling for an immediate rematch. And it seems things didn't go smoothly when the promotion slid a different bout agreement across his desk.
After reports emerged of Strickland and Costa's targeted showdown in Newark on June 1, the former took to social media to insist that nothing was official due to the UFC offering an unacceptable sum.
That issue evidently got sorted and Strickland will indeed make the walk at Prudential Center this weekend. But his frustrations don't appear to have fully dissipated...
Strickland: Look At What The Guys Who Run The UFC Earn!
During a recent interview with Daniel Cormier during UFC 302 fight week, Strickland looked ahead to his clash with Costa and spoke on his public complaints during negotiations for the fight.
Strickland unsurprisingly didn't avoid stepping beyond the company line, slamming the UFC as just another corporation headed by "leeches" who avoid acting correctly to most fighters.
Here's the thing, sometimes you've gotta be ready to f*cking throw away your entire career if you don't get your sh*t," Strickland said. "Just doing the f*cking right things, man. The UFC doesn't do the right things. It doesn't f*cking do the right things. It doesn't do the right things with most of the roster.
If you go look at what these f*cks, the guys that run the UFC, what they're making and what (fighters) get paid, it's f*cking sh*t, dude. The UFC does not do the f*cking right things," Strickland continued. "Unless you hold them at gunpoint, they aren't gonna do it. But that's all business these days. All these f*cking corporations are f*cking leeches, dude. Look at the working man's f*cking (pay) gap, bro. My gap is a lot f*cking smalled than your guys' gap, but that's how it works. These corporations are just f*cking sucky.
Strickland is never far from the headlines during his fight weeks. While that was the case for UFC 297 earlier this year due to his tirade against a reporter who questioned his past anti-LGBTQ comments, the promotion itself is the entity coming under fire days out from UFC 302.
It remains to be seen what Strickland will produce while on the microphone at Thursday's press conference, or while throwing down with Costa inside the Octagon.
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