Toronto, ON — Despite his checkered past and borderline (more honesty, over the line) bigotry, Sean Strickland had Canadian fight fans firmly in his corner during Thursday’s UFC 297 pre-fight press conference.
Perhaps surprisingly, however, it was not Strickland — decked out in a “Make Canada Great Again” t-shirt with his name emblazoned over a red Canadian maple leaf — who was the most chaotic presence at the Elgin Theatre.
That honor went to an anonymous fan, who thought it a good idea to rush the stage and make a fool of himself, standing in front of Strickland, cheering, before being tackled by security.
Don’t be that guy, kids.
Still, this is the type of controversy Strickland courts these days. He’s remolded himself into some sort of liberator bringing the American ideal of free speech to a country in Canada that instead has free expression — but stricter limits on hate speech than its southern neighbor.
Would-be messiah Strickland has made that a regular talking point. “When did you ever see a UFC champion, Georges St-Pierre, anybody else, stick up for you f*cking guys? I do it,” Strickland exclaimed on Thursday, glossing over the fact that GSP led by example, and contributed to charitable efforts including his own anti-bullying foundation.
More likely, Strickland just doesn’t know— why would he? Facts don’t matter in this social media age, something the middleweight champ has latched onto. “I’m not chasing the Chinese checkmark of Nike. I don’t give a f*ck about that. I care about your guys, I care about you guys being free. I care about you guys having freedom of speech. I give a f*ck about your guys, and I’ll tell you what, you guys are f*cking awesome.”
What Strickland is doing to ensure Canadians acquire freedom of speech is unclear — beyond riling up fans, that is. Likewise, just what he’s doing to prove, as he puts it, that he gives a f*ck about fans. The dangers of the Strickland effect were as blatant as ever on Thursday, however, as several members of the admittedly multi-cultural crowd hollered out “say the N-word!” Much to UFC CEO Dana White’s obvious chagrin.
The entire affair was over rather quick, perhaps a reaction to the security breach, perhaps over concern of what Strickland might blurt out in front of the cameras. In comparison to Wednesday’s media day, where Strickland lambasted MMA Fighting’s Alex K. Lee for daring to bring up past homophobic comments, the champ was mostly well behaved. After the fan incident, he even shook Dricus Du Plessis’ hand— after the pair agreed to fight to the death.
“F*ck yeah!” hollered Strickland, seemingly cheering on the boneheaded move before giving Du Plessis his props. “Dricus, could I get an agreement, to the f*cking death. To the f*cking death!?!”
For what it’s worth, Du Plessis agreed, and fans lapped it up. With UFC 297 already a sellout with a record-setting gate, it appears Strickland has at the very least struck a chord. Whether he manages to escape Canada without further controversy, and with his belt still in hand, remains to be seen.
