UFC champ Sean Strickland lashes out amid pay dispute, threatens to vacate title and leave promotion

· Yahoo Sports

Sean Strickland’s ongoing contract dispute with the UFC may be getting even messier.

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Strickland, the current UFC middleweight champion and a two-time titleholder, was expected to defend his belt against top contenderNassourdine Imavov to close out 2026, however those plans ultimately fell through after Strickland and the promotion were unable to agree to terms over the champion’s pay. As a result, the UFC opted to book Charles Oliveira vs. Diego Lopes in a BMF title bout to headline UFC 335 on Dec. 12.

Strickland, 35, has been open about his ongoing negotiations with the UFC, often divulging his frustrations over his pay on social media. On Wednesday, those frustrations appeared to hit a boiling point, with Strickland writing that he was “over” the relationship “unless things change with the UFC.”

The middleweight champ bemoaned the “insulting” paydays of fellow UFC star Conor McGregor and boxer Conor Benn — the latter of whom inked a reported $15 million with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing despite never winning a world title — and indicated that he may vacate his UFC title, move up to light heavyweight and “speed-run” the reminder of his UFC contract, with an end goal of boxing Jake Paul for a hefty sum once free.

Strickland’s full comments:

I gotta be honest unless things change with the UFC Im kinda over it.

McGregor makes 30 million to fight for 30 second and they dont want to pay us a fraction of it.

Contemplating just going to 205 knocking out my contract and scrapping with @jakepaul

That sounds fun.

Its just hard McGregor 30 million

Some lame boxer 15 million

The thought of just giving up my belt going to 205 and speed running my contract to fight Jake and make what these guys are making sounds pretty damn appealing

Despite his various outside-of-the-cage controversies, Strickland stands as one of the UFC’s biggest names — and few American stars — in its current climate.

He shocked the MMA world in May by upsetting the previously undefeated Khamzat Chimaev to reclaim the middleweight title at UFC 328. The victory came nearly three years after Strickland’s first stunning championship win, when he dominated Israel Adesanya as a sizable underdog to steal away the belt in September 2023 at UFC 293.

Strickland previously defeated Imavov via unanimous decision in a light heavyweight bout in 2023. It remains to be seen whether the two will rematch in early 2027 — and in light of his latest comments, whether Strickland will remain the UFC middleweight champion.

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