Sean Strickland’s dangerous mouth earning him a title shot shows the UFC no longer does what’s right

Sean Strickland’s most dangerous weapon is his mouth, and that alone is getting him Dana White privilege.

This past February, Sean Strickland returned to the win column with a win over Anthony Hernandez in the UFC Houston main event.

That marked the controversial middleweight’s fifth knockout win in the premier promotion and his first in five fights.

However, despite his fight style being utterly dull, it was announced by Dana White this past Thursday that he will now fight Khamzat Chimaev for the middleweight title in the UFC 328 main event.

Strickland’s mouth once again earned him a title shot

Prior to Strickland’s win over Hernandez, it seemed almost guaranteed that Chimaev’s first title defense would come against Nassourdine Imavov.

‘The Russian Sniper’ is on a five fight winning streak since losing to Strickland in 2023, scoring impressive wins over the likes of Israel Adesanya and Caio Borralho.

And many fans would’ve preferred him to get the title shot over Strickland, for many reasons.

At this point, all Strickland needs to do is rebound with one win before being given another title shot, which is staggering.

When he first lost against Dricus Du Plessis, he rebounded with one of the most forgettable fights of all time against Paulo Costa, but somehow got another title shot.

He was then utterly dominated by ‘Stillknocks’ in a rematch and all he had to do was beat ‘Fluffy’ to outdo Imavov’s impressive streak.

Even I will admit that Chimaev vs Strickland is undoubtedly a bigger fight on paper than what Chimaev vs Imavov would be, but Strickland is not a fun fighter.

The build-up to the fight will be insane, and likely dangerous for the UFC, and they will struggle to keep it amicable and without any sort of controversy.

But there lies my issue. Strickland’s dangerous mouth is getting him title shots, not his action inside the cage. And that should never be the case.

If there was no one else for ‘Borz’ to fight in the division then, yes, make the fight.

This, though, continues to show that popularity beats meritocracy, and whether you are the most elite fighter in your division, it doesn’t matter.

Strickland will sell more tickets than Imavov, and that is the long and short of it. As he said, people will either buy tickets to see him win, or they will buy tickets to see him lose.