UFC 297: Sean Strickland Receives Backlash From UFC Champion For Shocking Rants

Originally posted on FanNation MMA Knockout
By Fernando Quiles Jr. | Last updated 1/22/24

One UFC champion has responded to Sean Strickland over his harsh pre-UFC 297 comments.

Strickland fought Dricus Du Plessis in the main event of UFC 297 on Saturday night. It was a highly competitive title fight that went the distance. In the end, two of the three judges scored the fight for Du Plessis, awarding him the split decision win and the UFC Middleweight Championship.

While Strickland was lauded for his efforts, one current titleholder hasn't forgotten about his controversial comments pre-event.

Raquel Pennington also competed in a title fight at UFC 297, defeating Mayra Bueno Silva to capture the UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship. Prior to the UFC 297 event, Strickland got into a verbal spat with MMA reporter Alexander K. Lee over past comments on the LGBT community.

Both UFC CEO Dana White and Sean Strickland felt the reporter was "baiting." Strickland went off on the media member, claiming he was pushing an agenda and he said he didn't want his kids to be taught about sexual preference.

Pennington, who is openly lesbian, responded to Strickland's rants during an interview with Sportsnet's Aaron Bronsteter.

"Honestly, like, for people like that it hurts my heart to pass so much judgement," Pennington said. "At the end of the day, the things he says doesn't impact my life and it's never gonna impact my life. It's not gonna change what I'm doing and how happy I am and how full my heart is, but things that are said like that and the judgment that's passed it really impacts people. Stuff like that is not okay. I honestly ignored all the noise this week. So, it was just outside distractions. I heard about it just because I was doing so much media. Other than that, it is what it is."

Strickland had also trashed Pennington's co-main event fight with Silva prior to the show. He told reporters that it almost seemed like the UFC needed to satisfy a "quota" in booking the championship bout.

Raquel revealed that Dana White even checked on her to see how she was handling the situation prior to the final UFC 297 pre-fight press conference.

"Yeah, my family reached out to me about it, Dana came and talked to me before the press conference with everything to see how I was holding up about things," Pennington said.

Here's the full video interview:

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This article first appeared on FanNation MMA Knockout and was syndicated with permission.

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