Sean Strickland walked into the gym this week wearing a shirt that read, in the censored version Championship Rounds posted on X, “I don’t do cardio because real ni**as don’t run.” The account credited the photo to jasonmanly on Instagram. That is the UFC middleweight champion, the man who beat Khamzat Chimaev in May to take the belt, picking a racial slur as his training fit.
I’m not going to spend 800 words explaining why a slur on your chest is ugly. Everybody reading this already knows, and so does he. Nobody prints a shirt like that by accident, and nobody wears it to a gym where phones are out without understanding exactly what happens next.
What bugs me is the timing. Strickland picked the worst week of his reign to do this, because for once he was holding a winning hand in a fight that matters to a lot more people than him.
View post on X
He Was Winning an Argument
Strickland had gone public about his pay, and according to Yahoo Sports he appeared to reference Conor Benn’s Zuffa Boxing contract, reported there at $15 million, while explaining his frustration. BBC Sport put Benn’s one-fight deal at a reported £11m. Either figure stings. Zuffa Boxing and the UFC sit under the same roof at TKO, so the company signing that check on the boxing side is the same company setting the rate for the 185-pound champion.
Dana White’s response, per BBC Sport, was to point out that Strickland signed a new contract in May. Yahoo’s piece filled in the rest. Strickland had to sign that deal to get the Chimaev title shot, and in the Paramount+ era there’s no pay-per-view cut to chase anymore. His earnings as champ are fixed in black and white, and if he sits out waiting for a better number, the old one waits with him.
That’s a strong case. It comes with numbers, a timeline and a champion’s belt attached, which makes it a lot harder to wave away than a complaint from a guy fighting on the early prelims.
The week kept handing him ammunition, too. Shakur Stevenson asked Zuffa Boxing for his release after roughly three months, a long camp and zero fights, and got it over the weekend. Jake Paul wasted no time suggesting the MMA side extend fighters the same courtesy. Then on Wednesday, Michael “Venom” Page told BBC Sport that fighters need to unionize and act together, and he said complaints like Strickland’s are widespread inside the UFC.
Page’s next point is the one Strickland should have thought about before getting dressed. Most fighters stay quiet, Page told BBC Sport, because speaking up would cost them.
Now Look at What He Did With It
Strickland was one of the few people in that building actually saying it out loud, with the belt to back it up. Now every time he brings up money, the shirt comes along for the ride. White doesn’t need to win the argument on the merits. Anybody who wants to dismiss the pay complaint can skip the contract math and just post the photo.
And think about the fighters Page was describing, the ones on mid-tier deals who’ve been quietly weighing whether to speak up. The loudest voice on their side of the issue just wrapped himself in a slur. Would you want to stand next to that shirt in a press scrum? I wouldn’t, and I don’t get punched for a living.
This also lands right as his division gets crowded. Yahoo’s power rankings, which have Strickland third pound for pound, note that Dricus Du Plessis wants a trilogy after beating Kamaru Usman, and Du Plessis has already beaten Strickland twice. The MMA Mania meta rankings have Chimaev at No. 1 and Du Plessis at No. 2 at middleweight. A champion trying to squeeze more money out of a locked contract, with two contenders he’s lost to circling, needs every ounce of public goodwill he can find. He just spent a bunch of it on a cotton tee.
The cardio joke is its own little comedy, by the way. Title fights are five rounds. Bragging that you don’t run is a strange flex for a guy whose next defense is scheduled for 25 minutes.
Here’s my take, plainly. The pay fight is real, the Benn comparison is fair and White’s answer about the signed contract dodges the question fighters are actually asking. Strickland was the right messenger for about two weeks. Yahoo’s rankings piece expects his next title defense early next year, and that negotiation is where his real leverage lives. He walked into the gym this week and made it cheaper for the UFC to say no.
