Dana White had a question for Canadian customs, and he asked it into a microphone at UFC Edmonton.
“How the hell did you guys even let Strickland into this country? I can’t believe it. If he can get in here, anybody can, apparently,” White said in a clip the UFC put out, which @DovySimuMMA posted on X early Sunday with a crying-laughing emoji.
Championship Rounds posted a shorter cut of the same line minutes later, and by Sunday morning MMA Sucka and Mundo Deportivo had written it up. MMA Sucka called it a hilarious reaction. The online response treated it as a punchline, and nobody in the clips that circulated is heard objecting.
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White didn’t spell out what he meant in the footage shared. The timing is interesting, though. Late Saturday the X account Rise Of Alberta posted that Strickland had delivered a speech at an Alberta independence rally. None of the sources connect White’s crack to that appearance, so treat any link as guesswork.
Strickland is a two-time UFC middleweight champion and sits at No. 1 in the Knockout Daily middleweight rankings with a 31-7 record out of Xtreme Couture. He was No. 7 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings as of June 16, 2026. He’s been a pro since 2008, held the King of the Cage middleweight title before the UFC signed him, and submitted Bubba McDaniel with a first-round rear-naked choke in his UFC debut at UFC 171 back in March 2014.
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His past is also part of why a line like White’s lands. Strickland has said his grandfather exposed him to neo-Nazi ideology as a teenager, and he was expelled in ninth grade for committing a hate crime before his mother took him to an MMA gym. He has credited training with changing him: “Then I started training and the moment I started training I was like...I don’t hate anybody. Everyone’s cool.”
White was in a needling mood all night. Asked about Joaquin Buckley refusing to shake his hand after Buckley’s loss on the card, White deadpanned, “As soon as he lost, I told Hunter to cut him,” before adding, “I’m f*cking joking.”
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The Strickland line was the better bit, and it’s funny precisely because the boss of the company is the one roasting his own champion’s paperwork. Strickland hasn’t fought since May 9, and no next bout appears in the available reporting. Whoever he fights next, the press conference questions will now include a customs desk.
