Does Sean Strickland Deserve this title shot?

[Bend NvR Break]

Khazmat.
Give Sean another fight. If he wins again then he can fight for the title again.
I really want to see Whittaker vs Sean.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

I mean I never even gave my logical assessment of why he deserved it lol.

Logically there are only two viable contenders based on popularity and prominence which are Strickland and Khamzhat.

If we are being logical (putting my personal bias aside), to his credit Strickland is a very popular fighter and only lost a close split to DDP (even if the fight was mid) and despite a lame performance against Costa he clearly won. And based on how the UFC books fights they probably needed DDP on this card for a number of reasons (owed him a fight/needed a main event title fight based on how other PPV's are getting booked out). I have no idea what's going on with Khamzhat, but he doesn't fight that often and the UFC might figure they need to use Strickland now or risk wasting him in obscurity where he could easily lose a contender fight if he's made to wait in the wings for another 9 months to fight the winner of DDP/Khamzhat.

It's just funny how the UFC politics game works out - remember this was Strickland one month ago:



And yet here he is, fighting in Australia, exactly the opposite of what he stated.

<[analyzed}>

Do you really think Sean is popular?

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Do you really think Sean is popular?

He is relatively popular, especially in the division he fights in.

Outside of Izzy and Khamzhat he's got the largest social media presence (2 million IG followers/650K twitter followers), significantly more than DDP as champ.

And most of his fans do truly love him, so they pay attention to what he says/does and will show up to his press events and fights.

I wouldn't consider him a "Super Star" but he's objectively a star as far as UFC fighters go.

 

[13Seconds]

Do you really think Sean is popular?

He appears to have a loyal following. Mainly in the US.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Yeah Strickland never really had a conventional rise to the top. Like, we still don't know if he's better than Cannonier. He's good but I don't believe he'd ever be a champ or even reach a titleshot if he worked his way up the rankings. Just because he can be competitive with the champ doesn't mean he deserves the shot.

Manel Kape is ranked 8 or something and I can totally see him give Pantoja some problems today and pull of the upset. He must beat some contenders though that will probably beat him.

Couldn't have said it better myself. There are a lot of times where i can see people lower in the division that would give the champ a hard time. For example I think Geoff neal is a patently bad match up for usman, very very good takedown defense very fast hands, good cardio. Maybe if he was inserted to the fight he could win it, but Could he work his way through the ranks and earn it? Doubtful.

 

[Last Falconry]

the one good argument in Strickland's favor is Khamzat's unpredictability. there's always something around that guy, visa stuff, injuries and illness, horrid weight misses. maybe they just aren't comfortable having him headline a pay per view

 

[RockyLockridge]

Do you really think Sean is popular?

Sean definintely has a cult following, but he's not known to casuals

the one good argument in Strickland's favor is Khamzat's unpredictability. there's always something around that guy, visa stuff, injuries and illness, horrid weight misses. maybe they just aren't comfortable having him headline a pay per view

This is a good point.....

maybe the UFC gets cold feet when they have to book Khamzat for a mainevent. He's blown 3 now. (Diaz, Whittaker, Edwards)

 

[Krixes]

Khamzat is fighting the winner no matter what. It's a win/win for everyone. DDP gets an easier title defense as well versus Sean. Everyone wins.

 

[Fedorgasm]

I thoroughly disagree.

I feel like if I subscribed to that logic, he'd not deserve a rematch against dricus because he already lost to dricus. The arguement for him deserving it is that the fight was close. Because there is context to apply outside of "he lost/he won"

I think the best fighter should have the belt. That's what signifies him as the best.

So you can complain that Sean doesn't deserve a title shot because he hasn't proven he's the at/near the top. But then he gets the title shot and wins, that proves he's the best now. So him being undeserving no longer matters.

 

[Mcnugget]

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

I don’t like that logic, we almost lost khamzat to covid. We lost conor to cocainevid. Make banger fights while ya can and don’t overthink it,


You should do khamzat vs rep and let Sean wait and he can even fight the winner ya know

 

[BJJ4Tone]

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

View attachment 1075313
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)


View attachment 1075314
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

I get that he is ranked #1, but since losing the belt to DDP, he has one split decision win against an INSANELY irrelevant fighter.
The closeness of their first fight makes it intriguing, but I still think Chimaev makes much more sense for DDP's next defense.


Let Strickland win one more, then maybe he can have another title shot.
Have him fight Borralho. The winner of that would definitely deserve a title shot.

 

[BJJ4Tone]

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

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

Gross
GTFOH with your horrible fucking takes.

 

[BJJ4Tone]

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

For 4 years now we've been pontificating whether Khamzat is the fucking GOAT or an absolute bum...
Even just to end that conversation, let's let them fight.

 

[tymikeson]

he deserves to have another press conference cry baby meltdown at the hands of ddp. thats for certain.

 

[SG123]

Yes, he won the first fight in a lot of people’s eyes

 

[Meathead Jock]

If Khamzat wasn't around it would be a weak yet acceptable title shot after sitting out.

In a world with Khamzat, there is no reason for Strickland to get a title shot over him.

Tatiana Suerez is getting a title shot so don't give me the Khamzat is too unreliable excuse.

 

[Meathead Jock]

He deserve more than Ankalaev

On what grounds could you think that?

Khamzat is more deserving than Sean.
I'll wait for who you think deserves the title shot more than Ankalaev.

 

[MisfitsBR]

I know can be a "cope", but

Could Khamzat be ready to fight in february at Australia? He is not active at all

Maybe he just wouldn't fight or the UFC was afraid of him pulling out like he did in the first fight against Robert

Strickand probably would accept a short notice, but they just made simple

Khamzat will probably fight once this year, maybe at Abu Dhabi, let's see if he doesn't have the healthy issues anymore

 

[FriskyRandy]

He deserves it more than khazmat for sure. I thought first one was close enough that they should have instant rematched

 

[AmonTobin]

I thought he was winning. It seemed like the fans were split 50/50 on who won at the time. I think the rematch is justified. This is one of those cases of unfinished business where the rematch can hopefully settle things and answer our questions. I’m not a fan of either guy but I actually enjoyed the first fight quite a bit.