Mayra Bueno Silva had some strong words for UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland ahead of their respective title fights at UFC 297.
“Sheetara” unfortunately had the biggest win of her career against former champion Holly Holm overturned to a No Contest when she tested positive for Ritalin, but the Brazilian is now set to fight for the vacant bantamweight belt against Raquel Pennington at UFC 297.
The main event of UFC 297 will see Strickland defend his middleweight belt for the first time against Dricus Du Plessis, and during a recent ESPN MMA interview Bueno Silva was asked to respond to the middleweight champion’s claim that he’d been brought in to “help a couple ladies do their job”.
“Look, [on paper] my fight [with] Raquel is not a good fight,” Bueno Silva told Marc Raimondi. "But [on paper], Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis is a good fight? No. And then Sean talks too much. He thinks he’s a big star, but he’s not a big star…I believe my fight and Sean’s fight, one helps the other.”
Strickland has grown into one of the UFC’s more recognizable names thanks to his unfiltered and frequently off-color statements, but Bueno Silva doesn’t believe that the 32-year-old’s performances in the cage have done anything to justify his current notoriety.
“On paper, two bad fights for fans. But when [we] enter the Octagon, I [will] do a good fight. Du Plessis [will] do a good fight too. I don’t watch a good fight [from] Sean Strickland. I don’t remember the good fight.”
After entering last year on a two-fight skid that included a brutal knockout loss to Alex Pereira, Strickland rebounded with two victories before he upset Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 to claim the promotion’s middleweight title.
Fans are eager to see if Strickland is able to hang on to his title against the #2-ranked Du Plessis at UFC 297, but the co-main event between Bueno Silva and Pennington also promises to be an intriguing matchup as the women’s bantamweight division moves into the post-Amanda Nunes era.
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