In a heated exchange during a UFC 297 media event, Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland confronted a Canadian reporter over questions relating to his past remarks about the LGBT community.
The UFC fighter, known for his unfiltered opinions, did not hold back in his response, sparking widespread reactions on social media.
The confrontation began when reporter Alexander K Lee for MMAfighting.com questioned Strickland about a past statement he had made concerning having a gay son, but before the reporter could complete the question, Strickland interjected.
Strickland had previously posted his opinions on X in December 2021.
“If I had a gay son I would think I failed as a man to create such weakness…. If I had a whore for a daughter I’d think she just wanted to be like her dad lol!!” Strickland wrote in his post.
Strickland, instead of talking about his past comment, asked the reporter whether he was a gay man. Though the answer was unclear due to the back-and-forth bickering, the reporter claimed to be an ally of the community.
Strickland turned the tables on the reporter and began asking questions himself. He asked whether the reporter would be okay if he had a gay son, questioning whether he’d be fine without having a grandkid.
“[I’d have] no problem with it,” said Lee.
Following the reporter’s response, Strickland began the first part of his lengthy monologue.
“You’re a weak fu**ing man,” he said. “You’re part of the fu**ing problem. You elected Justin Trudeau. When he seized the bank accounts. You’re just fu**ing pathetic, and the fact that you have no fu**ing backbone as he shut down your fu**ing country and seized bank accounts. You ask me some stupid sh** like that. Go fu** yourself. Move the fu** on, man. You fu**ing coward.”
Lee said that this didn’t answer his question. However, he proceeded with another. He asked whether Strickland would use his fight to speak out on Bud Light. Strickland previously said that he would fix Bud Light after its Dylan Mulvaney controversy.
“Here’s the thing about Bud Light… Ten years ago, to be trans was a mental illness. Now, all of a sudden, people like you have fu**ing weaseled your way into the world. You are an infection. You are the definition of weakness. Everything that is wrong with the world is because of fu**ing you. And the best thing is, the world’s noy buying it. The world’s not buying your fu**ing bullshit that you’re fu**ing pedalling, said Strickland.
“The world is not saying, you know what, you’re right. Fu**ing chicks have d***s. The world’s not saying that. The world’s saying ‘no, there are two genders. I don’t want my kids being taught about who they could fu** in school. I don’t want my kids being taught about their sexual preference.’ This guy is the fu**ing enemy. You want to look at the fu**ing enemy to our world? It’s that motherfu**er right there, asking these stupid fu**ing questions.”
Finishing the rant with a smile, Strickland looked off the stage.
“Lance, did I cross any lines?” he asked.
“A little…” said the unknown Lance in the background.
“What the fu**? I didn’t say the F word! You just brought this fu**ing guy in here to pi** me off!” Strickland said, concluding the video.
The interview, drawing significant attention online, was posted to X by Strickland himself.
“Idk who this guy is and I don’t care but you’re not a man… But you’d take that as a compliment…” Strickland wrote in the caption of the video, which he posted to X himself. The video had 9.1M views on Thursday.
Colin Rugg, an American media personality, also posted the video, which had 10M views on Thursday. So, too, did many others, multiple of which have views in the millions.
The video has caused much of Canada to rally behind Strickland for sticking up to a journalist trying to ask a gotcha question.
Candice Malcolm, the founder of True North, was one of the people to applaud Strickland in her post to X.
“Must have been quite the surprise for this Canadian journo (who’s views represent 99% of the legacy media and perhaps <5% of the public) to hear a real response from a real person. We don’t get honesty much like this in Canada,” she said.
This confrontation comes as Strickland prepares to defend his title against South African Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297, which is set to take place at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. The event marks the UFC’s first show in Toronto since December 2018, featuring a lineup of prominent fighters.
