UFC veteran Sean Strickland is known for his controversial statements about other fighters, and now he’s decided to target Jiu-Jitsu as a whole. He’s got a title-fight scheduled against Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 on September 10th, 2023 so naturally one of the best weapons to use against an elite striker like him is superior grappling. Strickland recently sat down for an interview with Nina-Marie Daniele and although he seems pretty clear on this fact himself, it’s also no secret that he prefers striking to wrestling:
“I’ve been wrestling a lot in camp but sometimes you know, you get up there and you look at another man and I think to myself, I want to f*cking stand and bang with this guy. So I probably should wrestle but that’s probably not going to happen. It’s not going to happen. But I should wrestle, I’ve been planning to wrestle.”
Wrestling isn’t the only grappling martial art of course, and Sean Strickland actually has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu too. He actually has some experience in competition too, as he took on Andy Varela back at Submission Underground 29. Although he ended up getting submitted, that kind of experience against high-level grapplers can become invaluable to MMA fighters. It’s something that might become especially useful given the fact that Adesanya is actually only a purple belt himself. According to Strickland though, BJJ isn’t something he really sees any value in when it comes to professional MMA fights:
“Yeah I got (a black belt) a while ago, it’s bullsh*t, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work you guys, Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t work. It don’t work. It’s in my trunk somewhere, the black belt. I lost my gi, I don’t wear it anymore.”
The full interview with Sean Strickland where he shares his thoughts on wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu ahead of his fight with Israel Adesanya was uploaded to the official Twitter account of Nina-Marie Daniele:
Sean Strickland said he’s been wrestling a lot in camp but doesn’t plan to wrestle or use jiujitsu on Israel Adesanya because “that sh*t don’t work” LOL What do you guys think? @SStricklandMMA #UFC293 pic.twitter.com/3y7Tbx7w4Q
— Nina-Marie Daniele (@ninamdrama) August 28, 2023
