Sean Strickland was banned from UFC 323. Credit: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Sean Strickland ‘threatened with jail’ as he claims he’s banned from UFC 323 in deleted tweets

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Donagh Corby | Last updated Dec 7, 2025 12:08 AM ET

Sean Strickland has claimed that he was threatened with time behind bars if he broke his UFC suspension to appear at tonight’s event.

The former middleweight champion lives in Las Vegas and would have been expected to be in attendance to support his Xtreme Couture teammate Mansur Abdul-Malik competing at UFC 323.

However, he was banned from MMA in June for an incident when he was a cornerman, and is still suspended. And in a series of now-deleted tweets, Strickland said that he would not have been welcome at tonight’s show.

Sean Strickland bemoans UFC ban in now-deleted tweets

Usually whenever the UFC returns to Las Vegas, if one of Eric Nicksick’s charges are involved, particularly around middleweight or light-heavyweight, you can expect to see Sean Strickland in attendance.

The former champion is one of Xtreme Couture’s biggest personalities, and is known for being at times almost too supportive to teammates. But he wasn’t able to make tonight’s show after being slapped with a six-month ban from MMA after an incident back in June.

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“Well… I wanted to go watch the homies fight tonight,” Strickland wrote in the first of a couple of messages on social media, that have since been taken down. “But the UFC bosses personally called me to tell me to f— myself, I’m suspended and can’t come….. lol.”

He followed that up by noting that he had engaged in conversations with UFC boss that included: “Sean they might put you in jail,” “Sean I’ll never tell you what to say but I wouldn’t recommend it,” “Sean you should delete that but you don’t have to.”

It then got more aggressive as he claimed they also said: “Sean just shut the f— up for like two weeks till we get the deal done.”

“Never just a homie call wanting to go snowboarding,” Strickland joked. “I mean they’re rich and white they probably ski like a bunch…”

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

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