Strickland and Cannonier were scheduled to headline UFC on ESPN on October 15. Strickland and Cannonier both lost at UFC 276 against Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya respectively.
UFC Middleweight Sean Strickland shared pictures of his infected finger on social media, and fans started speculations about his availability to compete against Cannonier.
Along with pictures, Strickland also shared the details behind his injury. He said:
“I punched a dude in the face, right? And it was consensual, but I hit his tooth and now my finger is god awful infected,” said Strickland . “So now I gotta go get this thing scrubbed out, get an antibiotic IV and we’ll be back to it on Monday.”
Strickland had no idea that his injury was this worse. When he visited doctors for a checkup, they suggested surgery. He stated,
“I don’t know what the f—k happened,” said Strickland.
“Camp was going really f—king good. I had a hard spar on Thursday. I woke up on Friday and was like, ‘Hey, you know what? My finger is a little sore’ and then throughout the day, I was like my finger is f—ked. ”
“So I went to the hospital and it turns out I have a really bad infection from a tooth. And yeah, they’re going to cut me open and drain it out. I should’ve went to college you guys, I don’t f—king know. I’m gonna be out for like three weeks though, so that’s f—king life, right?”
Strickland had a successful surgery and shared pictures of his finger after that. It still looked like someone hit it with a metal tenderizer or shoved it into a shredder. The condition of the finger is still terrible.
What happened with Strickland is a cautionary tale for others. Mouth is full of bacteria and and as such the likelihood of infection is higher.
At this week’s Dana White contender series, White was asked to confirm his availability for October 15 event, to which he answered,
“Yeah, he’s out.”
In case you’re curious there’s an uncensored image on the next page