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Sean Strickland acknowledges the crowd during the UFC 312 press conference, inset Dan Henderson at a UFC Hall of Fame ceremony. Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images/Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Sean Strickland hits back at UFC legend Dan Henderson’s claim he was kicked from his gym for sparring too hard

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Curtis Calhoun | Last updated Jul 7, 2025 6:26 PM ET

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland responded to Dan Henderson’s recent claims over their gym split.

Sean Strickland is undoubtedly a UFC fan favorite, known for his brash persona and forward-pressing fight style. But he’s also ruffled plenty of feathers during his career, including one of the all-time great UFC combatants.

Strickland, who hasn’t fought since a rematch loss to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312, is plotting a return to the cage by the end of the year. Israel Adesanya recently called him out on the UFC Hall of Fame red carpet to run back their UFC 293 showdown.

Strickland recently got into a public feud with Xtreme Couture coach Eric Nicksick over his performance at UFC 312. Earlier in Strickland’s career, he allegedly got into it with UFC legend Dan Henderson and the Team Quest gym over his conduct.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Sean Strickland accuses Dan Henderson of lying over Team Quest ouster

During a recent appearance on the Overdogs podcast, Henderson reflected on his time coaching Strickland at Team Quest in California.

“He got in little argument matches with some of the guys that thought he was going too hard,” Henderson said. “Then he would go online and talk s— about him and he did it a little bit too much. Just more socially, I didn’t care what happened in the room.

“When you send it out to everybody to hear all that s—, it’s just disrespectful for your training partners, guys that are in there training with you to help you out as well. He just did it too many times, I warned him a bunch, and then finally just said, ‘Hey dude, you’ve got to go.’

“But he was a good training partner and I enjoyed having him in there and liked having a guy that is in there that goes hard.” (h/t MMA Fighting)

After Henderson’s comments, it didn’t take long for Strickland to take notice, as he acknowledged in a recent Instagram comment.

“None of this is true,” Strickland said. “I was Dan’s main training partner for his last fight. He retired, the fight team fell off and when it was time to renew my membership I left… but he is correct I would make fun of the fight team constantly.

“They would do yoga and skip sparring lol [Keith Berry] I’m talking about you haha funny thing is we’re both at [Xtreme Couture] and spar regularly now.”

Despite Strickland’s recent feud with Nicksick, he remains a major presence at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. Henderson retired from MMA after a UFC title loss to Michael Bisping in their UFC 201 rematch.

Sean Strickland faces potential NSAC suspension after storming the cage at MMA event

Amid his back-and-forths with Henderson, Strickland’s UFC return timeline remains uncertain as he faces a potential Nevada State Athletic Commission suspension after storming the cage at a Tuff-N-Uff event. Strickland and teammate Chris Curtis confronted Tuff-N-Uff 145 fighter Luis Hernandez in the cage after taunting them following a submission win.

Strickland has since explained his side of the events, expressing little remorse in punching Hernandez before being escorted from the venue. As of this writing, NSAC has yet to rule on Strickland’s viral incident.

Strickland’s last UFC victory came against former title challenger Paulo Costa at UFC 302.