Sean Strickland floated walking away from the UFC to box Jake Paul, and Paul took the bait within hours. Now Strickland is shocked and impressed by the response, according to a Sportskeeda headline, and the UFC has a contract fight on its hands with one of its most unpredictable middleweights.
It started Wednesday night. Championship Rounds reported that Strickland is weighing vacating his belt and moving up to 205 to fight out the rest of his UFC deal, and posted his reasoning: “Unless things change with the UFC thing I’m kinda over it. Contemplating just going to 205, knocking out my contract and scrapping with Jake Paul.”
Paul’s response came in two parts. First he posted a list on X under the line “Before I rest…” and it reads like a fantasy booking sheet: Canelo Alvarez, Francis Ngannou, Conor McGregor (boxing and MMA), Sean Strickland, Darren Till, Ryan Garcia, KSI, Chris Eubank, Edgar Berlanga, Tom Aspinall (boxing), Deontay Wilder, Nate Diaz (MMA), an unnamed fighter he blamed for ruining a previous fight, and a world title. He signed off with “Make it happen” and tagged @nakisabidarian.
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Then he went at Strickland directly: “Sean Strickland I see your texts but are you out of contract?” He followed that by telling Strickland to have his promoter call MVP, with the word promoter wrapped in scare quotes.
Those scare quotes are doing a lot of work. Paul knows exactly who Strickland’s promoter is, and he knows Strickland can’t sign anything with MVP while he’s still under a UFC deal.
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Strickland didn’t commit, but he didn’t back off either. Quoting Paul’s post, he wrote: “I haven’t decided if I want to nuke my contract but I gotta say man putting hands on you sounds way better than the UFC right now.....”
The Imavov Problem
While all this was playing out online, Strickland apparently had a real-life middleweight in his face. Championship Rounds posted video of Nassourdine Imavov running into Strickland in Las Vegas, and it got testy. Imavov pressed him on the paperwork: “What is your problem? You not sign the contract?” When Strickland answered “Say what?” Imavov kept going: “Money? I have money, I give. Hey I’m here, where are you going?”
That exchange tells you how the rest of the division sees this. If Strickland is sitting on a belt and refusing to sign, everyone stacked up behind him is stuck waiting, and Imavov clearly isn’t interested in waiting politely.
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Tommy’s Take
I love a fighter who uses the loudest name in combat sports as leverage, and Strickland is smart enough to know a Jake Paul tweet gets the UFC’s attention faster than any letter from a manager. But be clear about what happened here. Paul didn’t offer a date or a purse. He asked whether Strickland is a free agent, knowing the answer, and dropped him on a list with Canelo and a guy he won’t even name. Strickland has to decide whether he wants a bigger check from Dana White or a much harder road through a contract he’d have to fight his way out of at 205. And Imavov is apparently waiting in a Las Vegas hotel hallway for the answer.
