UFC veteran Jake Shields recently weighed in on Sean Strickland reportedly having his White House UFC tickets revoked.
During a recent episode, Shields began by laying out what he had heard about the situation involving the UFC middleweight champion.
“Sean Strickland, the UFC middleweight champion, friend of mine. We clash at times, but overall a friend, he just got a phone call, probably either Dana White or Hunter Campbell. He said one of the top execs of the UFC, they revoked his UFC tickets,” Shields stated.
He continued, “This is the only male American current UFC champion. And his whole persona is Mr. America, and they revoked his UFC tickets from the White House card due to criticism of Israel.”
Shields noted that Strickland had already made travel arrangements before the decision was reversed, calling the timing unusual.
“This is kind of funny because me and Sean have been arguing over this for several years,” he said, adding, “Sean for a while, he’s switched a lot closer to my direction. Obviously we’re not exactly, we won’t view it exactly the same, but he’s geared a lot towards me,” he noted.
Shields continued, “People thought he was crazy initially and like a lot of people they come around and are like, ‘Oh you weren’t so crazy,’ and now he’s seeing it, getting his tickets revoked.”
He also clarified his interpretation of the reason behind the decision:
“He didn’t say anything against America. He spoke against Israel,” Shields said.
Shields then referenced remarks made by Bryce Mitchell at a press conference, highlighting Mitchell’s defense of Strickland’s removal: “When you can’t criticize a foreign nation, come on, man. We ought to be able to criticize our own nation, let alone a foreign nation. In fact, that’s the only nation you’re not allowed to criticize,” Mitchell said.
Commenting on Mitchell’s perspective, Shields added: “People like to say Bryce is dumb, but he knows a lot more than people realize. He’s very sharp and he’s known stuff long before most people,” he said.
He also pointed to what he described as recurring political patterns in U.S. administrations: “You see with pretty much all these presidencies, you see the chief of staff, it’s almost always a dual citizen with Israel,” he said.
