Combat & UFC
Sean Strickland alleges UFC pay leaves champions unable to ‘walk away’ without ‘ruining’ their legacy
The Ariel Helwani Show
Sean Strickland WANTS OUT, Fury-Joshua Tickets SOLD OUT, Weekend Preview, More | The Craic | 10/9/26
What was said
"I'm going to say the quiet part out loud that nobody says you'll go. You'll go. You watch these champions, right? These like savages of the sport, man. They run the division and they take an L and then they come back and they just like, man, they just fight like three or four times. They get flatlined. You're like, dude, what happened to you? And you realize that UFC happened to him? They just don't care anymore. The UFC, they don't pay you enough money to walk away."
In a clip played on The Craic, Sean Strickland claims UFC pay is too low for fighters to retire at the right time, arguing that champions often keep competing after losses until their reputations suffer. In the same remarks, he says he wants to box and suggests that if the UFC will not accommodate that plan he would fight more conservatively to complete his deal.
Verification status
Attributed speaker claim
Egleze verified who said this and where. The underlying claim has not been independently established by Egleze.
Source and context
Egleze verified who said this and where. The underlying claim has not been independently established by Egleze.
- Speaker
- Sean Strickland · external_speaker
- Programme
- The Ariel Helwani Show
- Episode
- Sean Strickland WANTS OUT, Fury-Joshua Tickets SOLD OUT, Weekend Preview, More | The Craic | 10/9/26
- Clip time
- 7:17
- Original source
- Watch the source segment →
From this episode
The Ariel Helwani Show