Sean Strickland’s craziest moments, from sparring with Francis Ngannou to the flamethrower incident and a UFC mass brawl

Sean Strickland has earned his reputation as the wildman of MMA.

The sultry American has become an unexpected star since defeating Israel Adesanya on points to win the middleweight title at UFC 293 last September.

Strickland’s path to the top of the sport was littered with strange revelations, crazy social media posts and a number of controversial moments.

Ahead of his fight against Paulo Costa at UFC 302 on Saturday night, talkSPORT.com has reduced his career to the five craziest moments.

5. Sparring with Francis Ngannou

Strickland is known for his sparring approach, which allows him to address anyone, anywhere, at any time.

The former middleweight world champion frequently shares footage of his fights in the gym and has even gotten into trouble for posting a video of himself knocking someone out while training.

In July 2023, he shocked everyone when he revealed that he sometimes shares rounds with former UFC heavyweight titleholder Francis Ngannou, who also trains at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas

“The Predator” is one of the heaviest punchers in history and is around 45 kilograms heavier than Strickland, but that doesn’t stop him from exchanging blows with the Cameroonian knockout artist.

“I fucked Francis,” Strickland said on The Joe Rogan Experience.

The UFC commentator was both concerned and intrigued as he questioned his podcast guest, saying, “Oh! Seriously? Jesus! What was that like?”

Strickland replied, “Heavyweights are easier to hit and don’t get hit. But the problem is, when they touch you, you feel like you’ve been hit by a truck.”

Footage of his sparring claim quickly spread on social media. Some people thought it was completely plausible, others doubted the story was true until their mutual trainer, Eric Nicksick, confirmed it.

4. Machine Gun Kelly Beef

Machine Gun Kelly has a disturbing habit of annoying UFC fighters.

The rapper angered Conor McGregor, who tried to attack him, on the red carpet of the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2021.

Earlier this year, he got into a verbal altercation with Strickland at a power slap event, and the whole thing was caught on camera.

Viral footage showed the MMA fighter cursing at “MGK” and insulting his attire. As he walked away, Strickland turned around and said, “I’m easy to find, vampire man.”

According to Strickland’s report, Megan Fox’s partner did nothing but sit in the same room with him after making some bold fashion choices.

“I go and meet the vampire and make fun of him,” Strickland said of his confrontation with Machine Gun Kelly.

“I was like, ‘Dude, what the hell are you wearing? So what the hell is going on here? How are you doing this?’ He looked at me and he wasn’t laughing and he wasn’t giggling.

“But he looked at me like, ‘Why is this disrespectful guy talking to me like that?’ He looked at me like I was less than human.”

Strickland continued to lash out at the musician online, but was ignored and the argument died down before it got out of control.

3. The flamethrower incident

Strickland is a known gun enthusiast and has even released video surveillance footage showing him holding an intruder at gunpoint.

After his big win over Adesanya, Strickland managed to get his hands on an extremely advanced weapon and the fight almost ended in tears.

Hans Molenkamp, ​​​​who works with Monster Energy, uploaded a clip to social media showing Strickland literally playing with fire.

“I love the smell of burnt hair in the morning,” he captioned footage of Strickland pointing a powered-up flamethrower at him and playfully chasing him.

Molenkamp can be heard saying, “You just burned my arm,” before showing the damage on camera – but Strickland just laughed and reshared the video.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured in the flamethrower incident.

2. Beating up a streamer

One of Strickland’s sparring clips caused great controversy in February.

Jake Paul angrily challenged him to a $1 million training session after seeing the UFC star do his best to knock out popular streamer Sneako.

The most controversial MMA fighter spent the first few minutes of his fight taunting the inexperienced boxer, who he allowed to punch without fighting back.

However, the former 185-pound king of the UFC soon began landing massive power punches and continued to do so until someone jumped into the cage to pull him away.

Many were impressed with Sneako’s ability to stay upright during the barrage, but others were angry at Strickland for going way too hard.

A few days later, Strickland told him to “stop challenging me” after he got into a fight with a fan. The altercation, while much more playful, still ended with him choking a civilian.

1. UFC 296 Brawl

Strickland was the star of the show even though he didn’t even fight at UFC 296 last December.

The American was in the audience for the headline fight between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington, but did not see the welterweight title fight.

Dricus du Plessis sat directly behind him, days after the two men exchanged subtle insults at a press conference to promote their UFC 297 title fight.

Video footage captured by fans shows Strickland jumping over several people, including a small child, who he pushes out of the way to attack du Plessis with a series of punches before being ejected from the venue.

UFC CEO Dana White took full responsibility for the incident during his post-fight press conference.

He said: “What kind of asshole lets Strickland sit next to Du Plessis? That asshole, that’s who.”

“I do every seat assignment every week. How fucking stupid is that?

“I mean, seriously. I don’t know who you can put Strickland next to, but definitely not Du Plessis. I don’t know how I could have missed that.

“It’s my job to make sure that doesn’t happen. If I wasn’t an asshole, those two wouldn’t be sitting next to each other. It blows my mind that I missed that.”