{"id":31969,"date":"2026-10-10T00:31:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T00:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/?p=31969"},"modified":"2026-10-10T00:31:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T00:31:27","slug":"sean-strickland-says-ufc-forced-him-into-new-deal-before-ufc-328-title-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/?p=31969","title":{"rendered":"Sean Strickland Says UFC Forced Him Into New Deal Before UFC 328 Title Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<ol class=\"ea-crumbs\">\n<li class=\"ea-crumb\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHome\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class=\"ea-crumb\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"ea-crumb-sep\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\u203a<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMMA News\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class=\"ea-crumb\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"ea-crumb-sep\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\u203a<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span aria-current=\"page\">Sean Strickland Says UFC Forced Him Into New Deal Before UFC 328 Title Fight<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier today, reports surfaced that Sean Strickland signed a fresh six-fight deal before facing Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 and that Strickland\u2019s claims that the UFC brass have been lowballing him are not really true, as he earned over $1 million for the Chimaev outing.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 Sean Strickland signed a new six-fight UFC deal before facing Khamzat Chimaev, per @MikeBohn<\/p>\n<p>Rumors of a $400K\/$400K contract are FALSE, and Strickland earned over $1 million for the Chimaev fight <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fmoFbqQVkm\">pic.twitter.com\/fmoFbqQVkm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) October 9, 2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, Strickland has alleged that the company forced him to sign a six-fight deal to get the title shot. While responding to a fan on X, who asked Strickland why he signed the new contract if he felt lowballed, the current and two-time UFC middleweight champion alleged:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSign this, or we won\u2019t do this lol. They act like you have any power in this sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Check out Sean Strickland\u2019s comments below:<\/em><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sign this or we wont do this lol they act like you have any power in this sport<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) October 9, 2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTarzan\u201d bounced back early this year by stopping the surging Anthony Hernandez at UFC Houston. After the impressive knockout win, he earned another title shot right away. And at UFC 328, he dethroned \u201cBorz\u201d by split decision. <\/p>\n<p>NEWARK, NEW JERSEY \u2013 MAY 09:  (R-L) Sean Strickland punches Khamzat Chimaev of Russia in the UFC middleweight championship fight during the UFC 328 event at Prudential Center on May 09, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Strickland is now expected to defend his title against Nassourdine Imavov in a rematch. \u201cThe Sniper\u201d is frustrated by the delay and has also said he will pay $500k to the American if he beats him again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02 If it\u2019s really about money, I\u2019ll put $500K of my own money on the line if you beat me in January @SStricklandMMA putting this on record If you still don\u2019t take it, then you\u2019re just scared. I\u2019ll handle you outside. @ufc THIS is your champ? Come on STRIP HIM #NoHappyEnding\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Check out Nassourdine Imavov\u2019s comments below:<\/em><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02 If it\u2019s really about money, I\u2019ll put $500K of my own money on the line if you beat me in January @SStricklandMMA putting this on record<\/p>\n<p>If you still don\u2019t take it, then you\u2019re just scared. I\u2019ll handle you outside. @ufc THIS is your champ? Come on STRIP HIM #NoHappyEnding https:\/\/t.co\/qPfhFFXV5P<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Imavov Nassourdine (@imavov1) October 4, 2026<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sean Strickland wants to box, says he is not interested in MMA any longer<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sean Strickland does not seem game to run it back with Nassourdine Imavov. Over the past few days, he has offered several reasons for avoiding the matchup, including low pay and claims that he is done with MMA. The former UFC champion has also suggested boxing as his next move, as it pays more and is less physically taxing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Check out Sean Strickland\u2019s comments below:<\/em><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yall I think Im just frustrated because my body is crashing because MMA training is brutal. <\/p>\n<p>My heart just isnt in MMA anymore. Groin tear, AC joint separation. <\/p>\n<p>I just dont think my heart is in MMA anymore. Boxing there is more money and its significantly easier.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) October 8, 2026<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lowkickmma.com\/sean-strickland-says-ufc-forced-him-into-new-deal-before-ufc-328-title-fight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home \u203a MMA News \u203a Sean Strickland Says UFC Forced Him Into New Deal Before UFC 328 Title Fight Earlier today, reports surfaced that Sean Strickland signed a fresh six-fight deal before facing Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 and that Strickland\u2019s claims that the UFC brass have been lowballing him are not really true, as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1714,248,821,53,836,43,42],"class_list":["post-31969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-events","tag-deal","tag-fight","tag-forced","tag-sean","tag-strickland","tag-title","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}