The limits of free speech in the UFC may have finally been found, and unsurprisingly they came during a Sean Strickland post-fight press conference in Houston.
Strickland has been creating headaches for UFC’s PR department all week as he shares his hot button opinions on everything from ICE (he likes them) to Bad Bunny (he doesn’t like him) to Ronda Rousey (‘Who gives a f–k?’). “Tarzan” always finds a way to be extra offensive with everything he says, and up until now the UFC has put up with his comments as part of Dana White’s free speech policy. White even placed the blame on the media for asking Strickland questions.
Funny enough, no one asked Strickland about Bad Bunny or the Super Bowl. Sean offered those opinions up on his own during fight week, just like he offered up his extremely loaded opinion on Hernandez’s head coach Jim West, who Strickland accused of grooming former UFC fighter Aspen Ladd.
“Can you picture being 35 years old and meeting a sweet little 14 year old Aspen Ladd and saying, ‘I’m gonna marry her when she turns 18.’” Strickland said. “That’s what f–king Jim West did. So whenever I was in that cage and me and Fluffy are locked in, and I’m looking over at Jim West, and I was like, f-k this guy. I wasn’t fighting Fluffy. I was fighting Jim West. Swear to god.”
Moments later just as Strickland was getting into his next offensive bit about middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev being a “goat f–ker,” UFC officials told Strickland his time was up and then promptly shut off his mic.
This isn’t the first time Strickland has accused West, although the last time he claimed Ladd was 12 when they met. West confronted Strickland at the UFC PI three years ago over the subject, and then commented on Sean’s version of the interaction.
“It was nice to meet you Sean but your facts are incorrect,” West wrote on Instagram in 2022. “Aspen trained at Underground MMA in Jackson, California when she was 14. Lol at least have your facts straight. She didn’t train at MMA Gold which was Folsom MMA until she was 18. From 14 to 18 she trained at Underground MMA. Again. You can talk s–t. That’s your prerogative. There is your facts.”
There’s certainly a conversation to be had about MMA coaches who get into relationships with their much younger female students. We’re not sure that conversation should be driven by Sean Strickland, who has never let facts get in the way when he’s on a trash talking roll. The UFC (and/or Paramount) seem to agree. Whether it was the Jim West accusations or Strickland rolling right into calling Chimaev racist slurs, they finally decided they were done letting Strickland speak freely on their platform.
