UFC middleweight contender Sean Strickland is at it again.
The Las Vegas resident, who formerly held the middleweight belt, is known for his controversial opinions, and is often accused of racism by his naysayers. One of his latest comments is sure to generate another wave of controversy.
While hanging out with Adin Ross and some other influencers, Strickland got to talking about how much the UFC pays its fighters.
🇺🇸 Sean Strickland explains that UFC hires more Dagestani, Brazilian and other foreign fighters because it costs them less than american fighters.
“You’d make more money working in a Walmart”.
🎥 @adinross pic.twitter.com/tL6G4acJKs— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) June 1, 2025
He later shared his belief that the UFC roster will soon be full of fighters from outside the United States, because international fighters are more willing to fight for lower pay.
“The problem with the UFC, dude, is they don’t pay guys sh*t,” Strickland said. “The reason why you’re seeing everyone on the roster is a f*cking ‘Ahmed’ or ‘Jose’ and whatever Brazilian name is because the UFC isn’t paying these guys money.
“I think what you’re going to have is entire roster filled with just foreigners,” he added. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s fun to go watch two Dagestani cavemen fight, but at some point, they aren’t American. They don’t have American beliefs. They don’t have American ideals.”
Sean Strickland worries Americans don’t want to fight for the UFC
Strickland continued, elaborating on his belief that Americans are less willing to fight for low amounts in the UFC.
“They pay the top-5 [fighters] pretty good, but you’d make more money working at f*cking Walmart,” he said.
“You’re telling an American to go f*cking fight and make [$10,000 to show, $10,000 to win],” he added. “If you lose, you’re going to make 10. Then you have pay your management, you gotta pay taxes. You’re telling an American, you’re going to make $5,000 and you can pay your mortgage for like a month, two months.”
Knowing what we know about Sean Strickland, it’s not surprising to hear him speak this way. However, he clearly hasn’t done much research. There are still far more Americans on the UFC roster than any other nationality. The US has also produced more UFC champions than any other country, by a large margin. Strickland has also seemingly forgotten that MMA has always been an international sport. Just imagine the sport without Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Fedor Emelianenko, Kazushi Sakuraba, Royce Gracie, Jose Aldo, Khabib Nurmagomedov, or Conor McGregor? None of them are American. The UFC was even co-founded by a Brazilian in Rorion Gracie.
