Sean Strickland believes Khamzat Chimaev exposed his true character by posting their sparring footage.
Strickland is poised to challenge reigning middleweight titleholder Chimaev in the headlining bout of UFC 328 this Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Tensions between Strickland and Chimaev had been brewing for quite some time before UFC 328 was officially announced. With fight week now in full swing and both fighters continuing to trade barbs, “Borz” has seemingly added even more fuel to the fire with a recent social media post.
On Tuesday, the undefeated Chechen shared a 25-second clip from his long-discussed sparring session with Sean Strickland at the Xtreme Couture gym. The sparring encounter has been a frequent topic of discussion between the two rivals for quite some time, with both fighters offering conflicting accounts while continuing to trade insults.
The clip itself offered very little beyond a few brief striking exchanges between the two fighters and the caption, “I am bullying weak people.” There was no grappling shown, and nothing in the footage that clearly established either man getting the better of the rounds.
Now, Sean Strickland thinks the footage only validated his opinion of Khamzat Chimaev.
Sean Strickland Tears Into Khamzat Chimaev After Sparring Footage Leak Ahead Of UFC 328
During the UFC 328 media day, Sean Strickland addressed Khamzat Chimaev releasing footage from their past training session ahead of their title clash. The former middleweight champion downplayed the clip as nothing more than a light sparring round and claimed he had no idea it was being filmed.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Strickland said. “The guy’s just a little fu*king rat. One, I didn’t know we were filming. Those are our warmup rounds. You’re just a weak man. You’re just a weak, weak man. It’s like what is the point? We’re light sparring. I mean those shorts are a little questionable on my part. They were Amazon. It was a bad angle.”
The outspoken American also revealed that he only sparred Chimaev once, despite repeatedly trying to get more rounds in with him. According to Strickland, “Borz” showed little interest in extending the session, which is why he believes too much has been made of their brief encounter.
“We’ve only sparred once and we did like a three-round spar. We sparred once. I kept telling you this. When I got to a gym, I want to spar the best guy. I want to spar him but he would always just go beat up the lower level guys.”
