Sean Strickland was nearly pulled from UFC 293 for punching fan
It has been revealed that newly crowned UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was nearly pulled from his UFC 293 matchup against Israel Adesanya for punching a fan in the stomach. Thankfully, the UFC was able to keep the bout in tact which allowed for an all-time great upset to go down.
On “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani, Strickland’s head coach Eric Nicksick explained how the bout nearly fell through.
“I thought we were going to get pulled,” Nicksick said. “I really did. So they went to the beach and Sean basically incriminates himself during the fight week presser. (Sean Strickland) was like, ‘Yeah you know, this guy comes up to me talking trash and I punched him in the belly.’ Apparently the Australian government or whoever heard this, they got word of this, and it went downhill from there. It got to the point they where flying John Crouch out from Arizona from MMA Lab to corner Jared Cannonier. I heard that, I was like, ‘we are off, they are going to pull us from this card.'”
Nicksick is referring to Strickland’s interview with Fox Sports Australia where he jokily said he punched a fan in the stomach for talking trash. UFC CEO Dana White later explained that Strickland was exaggerating.
Nonetheless, it sounds like the Australian government did not appreciate Strickland’s joke. The UFC was not making accommodations for Jared Cannonier, the backup fighter, for no reason. The promotion was likely concerned if they were flying in additional coaches for Cannonier.
The UFC ended up running into a ton of roadblocks, as they searched to find Adesanya an opponent for UFC 293. Strickland was not a flawless option. In a previous interview with Submission Radio, Nicksick explained that Strickland was struggling to get a visa. The Australian government was likely unhappy that they allowed Strickland into the country to fight just so he could punch a fan in the stomach.
At the end of the day, it is fortunate that the fan did not opt to press changes. While it sounds like that would have been an overreaction, it still could have put the fight in jeopardy.
Thankfully, this will go down a fight that almost fell through. This would not have been the first massive fight to fall through for unnecessary reasons. The New York State Athletic Commission famously pulled Max Holloway from his short-notice fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov because they thought his weight cut was too tough. It is nice that the suits did not interfere with a matchup that eventually made his.
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