Does Sean Strickland Deserve this title shot?

[RockyLockridge]

Wouldn't mind a poll for this one if a moderator could a simple Yes/No Poll that would be nice.

So the Question is in the thread title. Just going to go over some quick facts for those on the edge


Reasons why he deserves it:

- Dominated izzy in a non competitive fight
- His fight with Dricus was a very close loss
- He rebounded with a win against Costa
- He's been around a long while and has generally paid his dues (short notice fights, Stays active, Never ducking anyone)



Reasons why he doesn't deserve it:

- Never really earned his first title fight, was given it strictly via circumstances
- There is another viable contender in Khamzat who has strong momentum and a win over whittaker (which strickland has not fought)
- 4-3 in his last 7
- Only finish in over 4 years has no wikipedia page


Interested in the sherdog consensus on this one

 

[Pharenheit]

The Izzy moment and close fight with Dricus outweighs the reasons he doesn’t deserve it by a lot imo. Smesh’s time will come

 

[CasualBot]

Frankly only finishes are worthy of titles,
and that includes title shots.

Decisions are for judges,
and everyone knows judges are fuckin casuals.

 

[RockyLockridge]

The Izzy moment and close fight with Dricus outweighs the reasons he doesn’t deserve it by a lot imo. Smesh’s time will come

Yeah my only thing about the "Izzy moment" is he never really deserved that title shot to begin with. So while he capitalized on that opportunity he did not have a single title defense and didn't earn a title shot to begin with so a fast track back to the title against costa (whom whittaker at the time beat recently) raises an eyebrow from me. Not sure what to think about it.

 

[VinceArch]

I personally would've preferred DDP vs Khamzat but Strickland's first fight with DDP was close and I did think the judges robbed Sean of that one so I understand why he's getting the next shot.

 

[HHJ]

No!!

Ew!!

 

[Portland8242]

Strickland was far more deserving than Khamzat despite the crying from Shertards.

 

[Question]

A few months ago, yes
I honestly think he should gotten it over Izzy

However, that's because there wasn't many other options at the time for DDP that stood out
Things have changed since though with the Whittaker/Khamzat eliminator, Khamzat ran through him, easily. That's the number one contender now

While Sean decided to sit out on his mediocre win over Costa, it was a clear win but quite an uninspired performance against a guy who hasn't had a ranked win since 2019

 

[Streeter]

I don't know but he deserves it more than Khazmat .

 

[Question]

Also, I'd rather a fresh matchup compared to a rematch
Especially one so close to the previous fight, IMO I think rematches should be harder to earn in these sort of scenarios

 

[Sycho Sid]

No, but when as desrved ever mattered?

 

[Koala]

As long as we don't know why it's not Chimaev, we cannot say
Whittaker and Adesanya just lost. Bo Rayo and Imavov are not more deserving than Strickland as of now

 

[Question]

No, but when as desrved ever mattered?

True, this past year has been full of fuckery

 

[svmr_db]

Can't really go back to how he got his first title fight to argue why he shouldn't get this one, considering what he did to Izzy that night.

I imagine UFC would've preferred to put Chimaev in to face DDP instead, perhaps he's having visa problems or something again. Strickland has been a good company man for them over the last few years so it is not a big deal, Chimaev will get the next shot anyways.

Not super hyped for DDP vs Strickland 2 but I think it will end up being a pretty solid fight.

 

[Streeter]

Strickland was far more deserving than Khamzat despite the crying from Shertards.

Folks here are saying Khaz is greatest MW ever over Andy n Izzy ( in the greatest ever thread ) The man has fought 3 good fighters 2 were close wins vs WWs. 1 was a great finish against a mw. One great win is all he has . It's lunacy

 

[AMAZINGUFC]

He doesn't deserve it.
He just lost and we have another more interesting one, Khamzat.

He's also a hypocrite, he talks about blood and death, but he's nothing more than a monotonous scoring fighter.

These rematches are acceptable when the category has no one left, which is not the case.

 

[Ares Black]

Not particularly

 

[Pharenheit]

Yeah my only thing about the "Izzy moment" is he never really deserved that title shot to begin with. So while he capitalized on that opportunity he did not have a single title defense and didn't earn a title shot to begin with so a fast track back to the title against costa (whom whittaker at the time beat recently) raises an eyebrow from me. Not sure what to think about it.

I always thought Sean got the title shot because Izzy had cleaned out the division. While it probably wasn’t deserved he still shocked the world and almost knocked out the long reigning champ + dominated him as the heavy underdog. Think that should weigh heavily in the eyes of people

 

[RockyLockridge]

Can't really go back to how he got his first title fight to argue why he shouldn't get this one, considering what he did to Izzy that night.

yeah I can.

He's not like Colby covington.

Colby covington earned his title fight against usman almost twice over. The maia win should have been enough, but he had to fight RDA for an interim, STILL didn't get a title shot, so he had to fight lawler THEN he got to fight usman. So i wasn't surpised when he was given a one fight path against woodley and given another chance.

Strickland doesn't really land there for me. IMO. If he had a monster streak when he lost to dricus after earning a legit title defense I'd forgive it. but personally, I'd ABSOLUTELY hold how he got his first title fight against him in this case as it was only 4 fights ago.

I always thought Sean got the title shot because Izzy had cleaned out the division. While it probably wasn’t deserved he still shocked the world and almost knocked out the long reigning champ + dominated him as the heavy underdog. Think that should weigh heavily in the eyes of people

Dricus had a foot injury and couldn't make the 7 week turn around izzy tried to fight him on. izzy only wanted dricus as a contender on a short turn around. It back fired when strickland beat him but it was always dricus title fight, not sean. hence Dricus getting the next fight without having to fight.

Dricus earned his title fight with a finish over whittaker. Strickland is getting this fight with a split decision over costa.

 

[Brigfa2]

He deserve more than Ankalaev and Umar