Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland may have thought Derek Moneyberg was just another internet target, but according to Moneyberg, the former UFC champion has officially crossed into legal territory.
After being “served papers” and repeatedly called out for “talking sh*t online,” Strickland is now at the center of a conflict Moneyberg says he first tried to address between the two, even offering to meet, train, and talk it out in person before things escalated.
“Sean’s been served legal papers, and I don’t need to go into all the details of it in a public thing,” Moneyberg told Cageside Press.
“Sean’s been served legal notice, and he knows what that is. He hasn’t reached out.”
Moneyberg received his Jiu-Jitsu black belt during a presentation with Jake Shields, Glover Teixeira, Lyoto Machida, and Frank Mir. He says the video had barely gone public before Sean Strickland started going off about him on social media.
“By the time we (got) done with that little presentation Sean’s on the internet saying a lot of things that are not true and disparaging,” he said.
“I wrote him DM’s privately, you know, like why? You never met me before in your life. Take the time to come meet me. I asked you to do an interview with me at least twice, you never did. Take the time to come meet me and talk to me if you want to talk to me, but like why are you talking sh*t?”
According to Moneyberg, Strickland didn’t stop the online attacks, and the two actually ran into each other in Connecticut.
“This continued and I remained respectful throughout it. The internet narrative is like, ‘Sean Strickland confronted Derek Moneyberg!’ I came to him, and I don’t say I confronted him, I came to him and I said, ‘Hey I hear you say my name a lot, here we are together, you want to take a minute to come talk to me’,” he said.
Moneyberg says the first time the two crossed paths in person, he approached Strickland directly, calmly and respectfully, despite all the online noise. He recalls extending an invitation to talk things out face-to-face before anything escalated.
Sean Strickland just confronted Derek Moneyberg and called him out for scamming his followers 😬
“This man takes advantage of low paid UFC fighters and uses their platform to peddle financial scams…
You are a scumbag and you are a fraudster.”
🎥 @SStricklandMMA pic.twitter.com/BccEirdWuZ
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) September 11, 2025
“We had a little conversation in the hotel lobby, it’s in a public place, we end up staying in the same hotel.”
Moneyberg says his initial approach toward Strickland was anything but hostile. In fact, he claims he actively tried to open the door to a civil exchange before the situation turned ugly.
“So you don’t want to do an interview with me. You don’t want to train with me. I’ve offered to come to your gym. I’d be happy to train with you in a respectful way. I’m sure there’s something I could learn from him.”
“Things have escalated since then that he continues to talk sh*t. So at this moment would I do that? No. We have a legal thing to resolve first,” he said.
“If you really believe the shit that you’re saying, we’ll do a public match together. If my black belt is bullshit, it should be easy for him to tap me in five minutes, wouldn’t it,” Moneyberg said.
“He’s never said yes to that. He says ‘sign the waiver and come through.’ He’s challenging me to an MMA fight at his gym. That wasn’t my intention. I wasn’t challenging him to a fight. I was inviting him to come see me. I said, respectfully, come to the gym tonight.”
Watch the entire interview with Derek Moneyberg above.
