Sean Strickland is once again the UFC middleweight champion after edging out Khamzat Chimaev in a close match at UFC 328, a bout many observers scored 3-2 in his favor.
While Strickland’s performance inside the cage earned widespread praise, the fallout from the match has sparked controversy after Ariel Helwani publicly criticized the champion for apologizing immediately after the bout for the deeply personal attacks he made during the buildup.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Helwani argued that Strickland crossed several lines during the promotion by targeting Chimaev’s religion, family, and close associates. Helwani took particular issue with Strickland walking those comments back moments after the match ended.
“You talked about his religion. You talked about his mom. You talked about his family. You win that match and tell the world that was all for show. That is fraud. That is cowardly,” Helwani said.
Helwani’s main point was that if an athlete is willing to make such personal attacks publicly, they should stand by those comments rather than immediately apologizing once the match is over.
Strickland fired back with a lengthy public statement aimed directly at Helwani, making it clear he strongly disagreed with the criticism.
“This is why I don’t do media with him,” Strickland wrote. “You are a leech who I’ve never respected. The moment I met this man I knew his quality. End of the day the hat red between us was real, what he said about me was wrong, what I said about him was wrong.”
He continued: “This is what ha te and anger does to people and it still might be there but we earned each other’s respect through blood and I would never expect a man of his quality to understand that. You are and will always be a pathetic MMA leech who has done nothing besides criticizing men who are better than yourself.”
“He personally thanked me once for standing up for Israel during the 7th attacks,” Strickland wrote. “I stand by that. Over the course of it my views dramatically changed. It went from hostage rescue to collective punishment aimed at women and children. I would say without a doubt that the AIPAC joke may have rubbed him the wrong way from how much he said Israel support mattered to him. So again you are a weak man who I will continue to avoid.”
Helwani addressed Strickland’s response directly on air, rejecting the “leech” label while pointing out that he had been covering MMA since 2001, long before Strickland ever entered the UFC.
He also clarified that his criticism had nothing to do with Strickland’s combat ability, which he praised repeatedly, but instead centered on the decision to make deeply personal remarks and then retract them immediately afterward.
“I just don’t think that you need to say things like that and then apologize for it in the immediate aftermath,” Helwani said. “If that bothers you, is what it is.”
