Sean Strickland
Strickland lit the fuse on X (@SStricklandMMA), writing “I gotta be honest unless things change with the UFC Im kinda over it.” His evidence was the biggest paycheck in the sport: “McGregor makes 30 million to fight for 30 second and they dont want to pay us a fraction of it.” Then came the pitch: “Contemplating just going to 205 knocking out my contract and scrapping with @jakepaul,” capped with a simple “That sounds fun.” The post pulled close to 44,000 engagements, which is more than every other post in this roundup combined, several times over. The key word is “contemplating.” By his own phrasing he’s still tied to the UFC, and the plan he describes (move up to 205, finish out the deal, then chase Paul) has more steps in it than most of the parlays I’ve lost money on.
Jake Paul
Paul (@jakepaul) didn’t take long to respond. “Sean Strickland I see your texts but are you out of contract?” he wrote, then told Strickland to have his promoter call MVP, with the word promoter wrapped in scare quotes. Those scare quotes are doing a lot of work, and so is the casual mention that Strickland has apparently been texting him. Paul asked the one question that matters here, and Strickland’s own post already answered it: not yet. Funny detail for the numbers crowd. Paul’s reply drew 149 engagements, which might be the first time anyone has seen Jake Paul get out-drawn in a conversation about Jake Paul.
Jon Jones
Posting under the display name Jonny Meat (@JonnyBones), Jones fired a shot at Colby: “Colby, I think your deep hatred is directed at the wrong Black guy. It was Usman who broke your face, not me.” He attached a link without further explanation, so whatever set him off stays off the page here. It was the second-biggest post of the day at roughly 2,600 engagements. Jones has never needed a reason to troll, and he rarely needs more than two sentences to do it.
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Conor McGregor
On the same day Strickland held up McGregor’s paycheck as Exhibit A, McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) posted a motivational speech. “Back yourself. Do the work,” he wrote, calling it his mantra and telling followers to “Make it yours.” The best line was “Talk is free. The work sends the invoice.” Strickland would like to know where his invoice went, and he’d probably like it to have McGregor’s number of zeros on it.
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Gaston Reyno
Reyno (@gastonreyno) asked his followers in Spanish, “Que Récord es más difícil de conseguir?” and put Floyd Mayweather’s 50-0 in boxing up against Jon Jones’ 28-1 in MMA. A numbers guy can’t resist this one. Fifty fights without a loss is a staggering sample size, but MMA gives you a lot more ways to lose on any given night, and anybody who’s ever bet a heavy favorite in this sport knows how many of those ways exist. Jones’ lone loss on that 28-1 record is part of why the question lands at all.
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Aljamain Sterling
Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) went after the pile-on crowd, asking “Why are ppl so quick to tear down people of any kind of status?” He said disagreement is fine, then urged people to look for understanding before condemning anyone. His closer pulled no punches: “This cancel culture is corny af and LAZY.” He didn’t name who or what prompted it, so I won’t guess.
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Sergei Pavlovich
Pavlovich (@SPavlovich13) kept it short, posting “My fight camp. #ufc #Vegas” with a link to footage. No callout, no contract complaint, no texts to Jake Paul. He drew 81 engagements, which tells you exactly how much the internet rewards a heavyweight who just goes to work. Meanwhile, the ball sits with Strickland, since Paul made it pretty clear the next call has to come from whoever is running Strickland’s business and has to go to MVP.
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