Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland did not take kindly to being taunted at a local mixed martial arts event on June 29 in Las Vegas.
Strickland and fellow UFC 185-pounder Chris Curtis were serving as cornermen for their Xtreme Couture teammate Miles Hunsinger, who was facing Luis Hernandez.
The fight ended with Hernandez submitting Hunsinger with a standing guillotine choke in the second round of a middleweight bout at Tuff-N-Uff 145.
Hernandez then looked towards Strickland and Curtis and taunted them with a few hand gestures. The pair of UFC veterans immediately entered the cage to confront Hernandez, who improved to 6-0 as a pro with the win.
Strickland threw two punches that landed on Hernandez, while Curtis grabbed the back of Hernandez’s head and was speaking to him and pointing at him.
The scuffle was broken up immediately and Hernandez was seen smiling.
Strickland said in a response on X that he had “no idea” why Hernandez was taunting him, adding, “I wasn't even vocal in the corner. The guy just wanted to antagonize me for a highlight.”
In another response, Strickland wrote: “Yeah what frustrates me is even during the fight he was insulting me. The athletic commissions (sic) job is to prevent this from happening. There was no warning. No penalty. They tell (Merab Dvalishvili during his fights) to shut up all the time.. Even the announcers were calling it.”
Tuff-N-Uff is a Nevada-based MMA organization. Sunday’s event took place at The Theatre at SAHARA Las Vegas.
The Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) has fined and suspended fighters in the past for similar actions, and on Friday, July 18 the commission issued a temporary suspension to Strickland for the incident.
Any future disciplinary action, including the possible extension of his suspension, is scheduled to be discussed at a July 23 NAC hearing.
Recently, UFC lightweight star Arman Tsarukyan was fined $25,000 and suspended for nine months after he struck a fan during his walkout to the cage at UFC 300. Tsarukyan also had 20 per cent of his UFC 300 purse withheld by the commission because of the incident.
Another lightweight, Dennis Buzukja, was handed a nine-month suspension plus a $2,500 fine for an altercation with a fan at UFC 310 in December.
Strickland, 34, became the UFC’s middleweight champion in 2023 but has since lost two of his past three outings — a pair of decisions to current champ Dricus Du Plessis sandwiched a win over Paulo Costa.
Curtis, 37, picked up a win at a Fight Night event in Nashville earlier in July.
