Sean Strickland was not mentioned on either list when Mike Bohn and Luke Thomas last ranked the UFC’s most valuable athletes in August 2025. That has changed dramatically.
On a recent podcast episode, Bohn placed Strickland at number four on his updated 2026 most valuable figh ters list, while Thomas ranked him at number three. The current UFC middleweight champion, who did not come up during the previous conversation, has become one of the most talked-about names in the sport over the past year.
Bohn pointed to the reaction Strickland generates in arenas as proof of his growing commercial value.
“He gets movement within the emotions of the fans,” Bohn said. “Right now, in this moment, it feels like they have something with Sean Strickland that people care about. And whether that’s for better or worse, it could be very open for debate, but I feel like he’s a pretty marketable asset for them and has built kind of his own thing and his own fan base.”
Thomas acknowledged the persona Strickland has built and how it feeds into his draw.
“The edgelord stuff that he does also attracts kind of the edgelord section of the fan base,” Thomas said. “Between that and his actual genuine achievements of what he’s doing, and there’s a little bit of political identarianism that goes in there too. All of those are working together to turn him into, like, is he a big name for fans? Yes.”
Thomas also framed Strickland’s appeal as part of a story about athletes who earned their way through without being handed opportunities.
“What Sean had and what Justin is benefiting from too is this sense of like earning it the hard way, you know, lunch pail kind of vibe that I think a lot of people like,” Thomas said.
The title win over Khamzat Chimaev served as the clearest turning point. Thomas called it “arguably the best win of his career at 35 years of age” and noted that Strickland even converted doubters within his own fan base.
“There were supporters of him he proved wrong. Supporters who were like, just give us an angry match, just fig ht angry, but we don’t expect you to win. And then he goes out there and he freaking wins,” Thomas said.
Bohn also acknowledged that the UFC’s own needs played a role in creating the platform Strickland now stands on.
“He wasn’t the deserving number one contender,” Bohn said. “They’re lacking American champions. There are events on American soil. They want to sell those tickets and get that interest and they put these guys in here and they do their part.”
The match build with Chimaev was tense by any measure, and Thomas argued that tension paid off commercially.
“That acrimonious build made it quite large, again, for better or for worse, and he really benefited from that,” Thomas said.
With a rematch against Chimaev and other top contenders waiting, both analysts see Strickland’s name continuing to pull real interest on major cards.
A year ago no one had him on the radar. Now he is among the first names mentioned when the conversation turns to who matters most in the UFC.
