Sean Strickland’s sparring sessions are never boring. Just ask social media stars like Sneako and Nick Nayersina, who were both mauled by the former UFC middleweight champ in viral footage that made headlines. Strickland doesn’t pull punches, in or out of the gym. And now, he’s in the middle of another fight, this time with UFC legend Dan Henderson. So what exactly went down between these two?
The drama kicked off during an episode of the Overdogs podcast, where Mike ‘Platinum’ Perry asked Henderson about his time training with Strickland. What followed was an unexpected revelation.
Perry began by asking, “You maybe had to tell him he couldn’t come back to the gym. I’m talking about Sean Strickland What happened with him training with you?”
Henderson didn’t dodge the question as he responded by sharing, “You know, he would get in a little you know argument matches all the time with some of the guys that thought he was going too hard and then he would go online and talk about sh— about them. And he did it a little bit too much just more socially.”
For Henderson, it wasn’t what happened in sparring and training behind closed doors that crossed the line, it was airing the dirty laundry online. He continued, “You know when you send it out to everybody to hear all that sh—, I’m like, it’s just disrespectful for your training partners. Guys that are in there training with you to help you out as well. You know, he just did it too many times. I warned him a bunch and then finally just said, ‘Hey dude, you gotta go’.”
Despite the falling out, Henderson still praised Sean Strickland’s trademark intensity in the gym as he confessed, “But he was a good training partner and I enjoyed having him in there… having a guy that, you know, is in there that goes hard.”
But ‘Tarzan’ wasn’t about to let that version of the events go unchallenged as he fired back in the comments section for the post. Strickland claimed, “None of this is true. I was Dan’s main training partner for his last fight. He retired, the fight team fell off and when it was time to renew my membership I left… but he is correct I would make fun of the fight team constantly. They would do Yoga and skip sparring lol”
For context, Dan Henderson’s final fight in the UFC came in 2016, when he faced Michael Bisping in a brutal five-round war at UFC 204. Though Henderson dropped Bisping multiple times, he lost by unanimous decision and announced his retirement afterward. That was the last time Team Quest was truly in the spotlight, and if Sean Strickland’s timeline is accurate, his departure seemingly aligned more with the gym’s fade than a formal ban.
Still, this isn’t the first time Strickland has found himself in hot water for how hard he goes in training. Yet, according to a lightweight contender who recently stepped into the fire against him, there’s seemingly a bit of a disconnect between ‘Tarzan’s image and what actually goes down in the gym!
Sean Strickland finds unexpected support from Paddy Pimblett for his sparring style
As Paddy Pimblett gears up for what looks like a potential clash with newly crowned lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, he’s been putting in the work by sparring with high-level partners. And recently, when a clip surfaced of him going at it with Sean Strickland, fans braced for chaos. But it never came.
Instead of carnage, viewers saw a composed, tactical Strickland. Just clean movement and calculated exchanges. For those used to seeing him unload mercilessly on influencers like Nick Nayersina, this was a very different side of ‘Tarzan’.
‘The Baddy’ noticed it too as he shared after the session, “It was nice getting a round in with him, lad. As much as people say, as well, he goes mad, he doesn’t. He was nice and chilled with me there. Didn’t try to take my head off at all.”
That kind of feedback stands out. So who is the real Sean Strickland? A reckless gym bully, or a misunderstood hard-nosed competitor who just doesn’t know when to dial it down? Depending on who you ask, Dan Henderson or Paddy Pimblett, you’ll get wildly different answers!
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