Sean Strickland has a pick for the UFC Edmonton main event, and he kept the analysis short. In a video posted to his X account on Saturday, hours before Mike Malott and Joaquin Buckley headlined UFC Fight Night 291, Strickland went with the Canadian.
“It’s not because Buckley’s black. Maybe a little bit. Malott all day. Buckley can’t fight. The guys like a f*cking turtle,” Strickland said in the clip, which Championship Rounds shared on X.
That’s the whole scouting report. There was no breakdown and no read on where the fight goes. He also never explained the turtle comparison. And he didn’t attach a price, which is how you know a man isn’t actually betting.
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Strickland (31-7) is a two-time UFC middleweight champion and sits No. 1 at 185 pounds in Knockout Daily’s rankings. He fights out of Xtreme Couture and last competed on May 9, 2026. He’s been in Canada fight week, where Championship Rounds caught him hanging out with Anthony Hernandez. He also had a run-in with Nassourdine Imavov. Joe Pyfer wasn’t impressed by Imavov’s side of that one. “He’s trying to sell it, but it’s like, brother, he’s not afraid of you. He already beat you,” Pyfer told Tim Welch.
As for the guy Strickland is backing, Malott (14-2-1) comes in at No. 17 at welterweight in our rankings and No. 11 in the UFC’s. The Team Alpha Male product coached striking at that gym before his UFC run, and his resume there reads like a finisher’s. He stopped Mickey Gall and Charlie Radtke, choked out Yohan Lainesse and Adam Fugitt (Performance of the Night both times), and took a decision over Trevin Giles. His one UFC blemish is a strange one. He dominated Neil Magny on the mat and with leg kicks, then got stopped by TKO in Round 3. He last fought on April 18, 2026.
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Buckley, for his part, has not been giving anyone much of anything this week. At the final faceoff he left Dana White’s handshake hanging, Championship Rounds reported. In one interview he didn’t say a word, according to UFC on Paramount+. That’s a strange look for a turtle, which usually at least pokes its head out.
Strickland’s take lands on the record next to everyone else’s. Malott and Buckley settle it in Edmonton on Saturday, October 17.
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