Las Vegas, NV — Sean Strickland knows that Uriah Hall will not be an easy out when they throw down in the main event of UFC Vegas 33 in Las Vegas, NV.
“He’s like a gatekeeper, and I don’t want to undersell Uriah to say gatekeeper, but he’s a damn good gatekeeper. He’s a guy you beat and it propels you into one or two shots away from a title shot,” Strickland said at the event’s media day on Thursday.
“You know I just spoke to [Michael] Bisping and I was saying that the way he fought Anderson Silva is kind of the way I have to fight Uriah. It has to be ugly, dirty, I’m going to get hit. It’s probably going to hurt you’re going to see me get rocked a couple times, but that’s how you have to beat Uriah. It just is what it is.”
Strickland (23-3) knows that Hall has a reputation as a fighter where you won’t know which version of him you will get until you’re locked in the cage with him.
“I think because we’ve trained a lot I’m going to get him at his best and that’s what I want. I don’t want Uriah to come out as the f*cking head case, I want him at his best. If I win I don’t want go back and be like ‘Well hey I beat Uriah because he was a f*cking head case’ like that’s a sh*tty way to win.”
Strickland is riding a four-fight win streak leading back to 2018. Most recently he defeated Krzysztof Jotko in May this year.
Hall (17-9) is also on a 4-fight win streak with his last fight a win over Chris Weidman after the former UFC middleweight champion broke his leg landing a kick on Hall.
Watch the full UFC Vegas 33 media day scrum with Sean Strickland above. The event takes place this Saturday, July 31 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV.