What’s Next For Sean Strickland?

What’s Next For Sean Strickland?

UFC 297 blew the roof off Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada last Saturday night (Jan. 20, 2024), leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Mike Malott, who had a win snatched from him by Neil Magny by stopping him in the third and final round after getting dominated for the first two frames (highlights).

And Mayra Bueno Silva, who saw her championship dreams go up in flames after Raquel Pennington defeated her via unanimous decision to claim the vacant women’s Bantamweight strap (recap here). And let’s not forget about Polyana Viana, who was absolutely creamed by Gillian Robertson (see it again here).

But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?

Sean Strickland.

Coming into his first Middleweight title defense, Strickland was his usual boisterous self, setting the mic on fire while hurting people’s feeling left and right. Once inside the cage, Strickland stayed true to his style, pushing the pace, not standing in between rounds. But once it was all said and done, Du Plessis was just a tad bit better, earning the split-decision win and his first-ever UFC title in what was a back-and-forth “Fight of the Night”-winning championship fight (highlights).

And just like that the Strickland era has come to an and — much to the chagrin of Dana White — just four months after it began. But “Tarzan” isn’t sulking one bit, taking the loss in stride and vowing to come back stronger than ever in his next outing.

“Big thanks to everyone who supported me!” Strickland wrote on Instagram. “Took a headbutt that split open my eye, took a couple rounds to adjust to the blood running in my eyes, he said. “Sucks to lose that way but this is the game! I thought I won even not being able to see out of my left eye but that’s life! Onto the next! Told you I’d bleed for you!!!!!!”

Indeed, Strickland did what he said he would do by taking it to Du Plessis, but came up just short of securing his first title defense. As far as what could be next for “Tarzan,” perhaps a showdown against the winner of the upcoming Middleweight collision between former division king, Robert Whittaker, and ex-title contender Paulo Costa — who are set to collide at UFC 298 next month — is in order.

Whittaker is currently ranked No. 3 and has his eyes on trying to reclaim the Middleweight title. As for Costa, he is ranked No. 6, though he hasn’t competed since defeating Luke Rockhold in Aug. 2022. Both are fresh matchups for Strickland and a win for either of those three men will get him closer to a title shot.

Unless this man comes in and crashes the party.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 297: “Strickland vs. Du Plessis” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.