Las Vegas β Jared Cannonier has come to the defense of Sean Strickland, pushing back against the wave of criticism following UFC 312.
At Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (π₯ 23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) secured a dominant unanimous decision victory over Strickland (π₯ 29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) to retain his title. However, many fans were quick to call out Strickland for failing to deliver on his pre-fight claim of fighting “to the death.”
Cannonierβwho holds a close decision win over Strickland from December 2022βbelieves the backlash is unfair.
π£οΈ Cannonier: “Congratulations to both competitors for making it out not as concussed as everybody hoped they would. It was a scrap as expected. DDP fought as expected, Sean fought as expected, and weβve got ourselves another championship fight in the books.” π€π₯
π€ Fighting Through the Pain
Strickland endured a brutal five-round war, suffering a broken nose in Round 4 but continued to push forward.
π£οΈ Cannonier: “He went in there and competed for five rounds in a world-title match and came up short with a broken nose. People wanted him to sustain more damage than that. We live in a sadistic world where people take pleasure in seeing others suffer.” ππ
π₯ Cannonier Gears Up for His Own Battle
Now, Cannonier (π₯ 17-8 MMA, 10-8 UFC) is focused on bouncing back from a two-fight skid as he prepares to face Gregory Rodrigues (π₯ 16-5 MMA, 7-2 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 251 main event this Saturday at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
π¬ Do you agree with Cannonierβs take on the criticism towards Strickland? Drop your thoughts below in the comments! β¬οΈπ₯
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