UFC president Dana White has dismissed Sean Strickland’s complaints over fighter pay, pointing to the middleweight champion’s recently signed contract amid an ongoing dispute over his next title defence.
Strickland has publicly criticised the UFC’s financial terms during negotiations for a proposed bout with Nassourdine Imavov, threatening to vacate his championship and fight out his contract unless an agreement is reached. He has also expressed an interest in pursuing opportunities in boxing.
“I haven’t personally; I’ve just heard through social media and stuff,” White told reporters following the final episode of Dana White’s Contender Series when asked whether he had spoken to Strickland, per MMA Fighting. “But when isn’t Sean Strickland upset about something or doesn’t have something to say?”
“Sean Strickland just signed a new contract in May. He just signed a new contract in May. He signed a new deal,” White continued. “And from what I hear, the number he’s putting out there, it’s not true. The number that he claimed he made is not true.”
Strickland has not publicly disclosed his exact earnings but has claimed that he received a fraction of the reported $30 million earned by Conor McGregor at UFC 329. With negotiations over the Imavov fight unresolved, it remains unclear when Strickland will make his next title defence. “It is what it is,” White said. “If we were in a situation where he’d been under the same contract for a year, two years, he just signed a contract in May. He got a whole new deal in May. So it is what it is.” Strickland last competed at UFC 328 in May, defeating Khamzat Chimaev by split decision to regain the UFC middleweight championship.
