Sean Strickland Proclaims Himself as ‘Last Person in America’ Who Khamzat Chimaev Should Threaten

With their middleweight title bout just weeks away, Sean Strickland responds to Khamzat Chimaev's threats in a quintessential Strickland fashion.

Sean Strickland Proclaims Himself as ‘Last Person in America’ Who Khamzat Chimaev Should Threaten

Sean Strickland sends a message to Khamzat Chimaev (Image via The Body Lock and UFC.com)

In Short
  • Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev are set to fight for the middleweight title at UFC 328.
  • Strickland publicly challenged Chimaev after the latter made threatening comments, dropping location tags on social media.
  • Chimaev downplayed the possibility of a backstage altercation, joking about Strickland's lack of a team.

Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland are set to duke it out for the middleweight crown at UFC 328 as the headliners. Things between the former teammates have heated up quite significantly since their training days. As such, with their scheduled bout less than a month away, the verbal jabs have turned into outright threats.

The American just sent a warning to ‘Borz’ after the latter’s latest comments. Chimaev recently said that he will not try to end Strickland’s life during their showdown at UFC 328, calling it “haram”. However, he also said that he couldn’t promise the same thing out on the streets.

This obviously didn’t sit well with the former champion. So, Strickland spent the entire day dropping location tags from Newport Beach, California on his Instagram story to lure out Chimaev. When that didn’t work, ‘Tarzan’ was forced to upload a video to social media, calling out the Chechen champion.

I was on Instagram and some stupid popped up in my feed about Chimaev saying you’ll try to fight me or kill me in the streets. Dude, I was like ten minutes from your gym. I was dropping tags and locations all day on my Instagram… I’m like the last dude in America you should threaten, but I guess if you don’t show up, you don’t show up.

Sean Strickland responds to Khamzat Chimaev

The former champion said that Chimaev’s training partners who followed Strickland on social media were seeing his stories. He said the middleweight champion definitely knew his location yet failed to show up. A wise decision perhaps, considering the fact that Strickland is armed more often than not.

Whether it be his brawl with Dricus Du Plessis or this incident, Sean Strickland has shown himself to be a loose cannon. It’s no wonder that Dana White is beefing up security ahead of their clash. However, Chimaev is adamant that he and his American opponent would not clash backstage. Here’s why.

Khamzat Chimaev makes light of possible altercation with Sean Strickland

Journalist Adam Zubayraev, who recently chronicled Arman Tsarukyan‘s travel woes, interviewed Chimaev. It was the same interview where the Chechen said he would not try to end the former champion’s life in the octagon.

Sean Strickland, Khamzat Chimaev
Sean Strickland training with Khamzat Chimaev [via Facebook]

During the interview, Zubayraev told Borz that Dana White suggested that there may not be face-off for the UFC 328 main event. Chimaev replied saying he just wants to fight and that he’s fighting Strickland anyway. Then when asked about the possibility of a backstage brawl with the American’s team, Khamzat downplayed it with a joke involving his former coach.

He doesn’t really have a team. It’s just one coach. Yeah, he [Eric Nicksick] likes me more.

Khamzat Chimaev on a brawl with Sean Strickland’s team

This was certainly an unexpected response from the middleweight champion. However, it does make sense that he would not pick a fight with his former coach. Chimaev was a part of the Xtreme Couture team after all.

Even so, it doesn’t seem like Sean Strickland’s threats will go unanswered. Borz is bound to reply sooner or later. However, whether the reply comes on social media or in real life during their media appearances for UFC 328 will only be revealed in due time.

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