The story of Sean Strickland’s fan interaction got back to the UFC and some things have been clarified.
Ahead of UFC 293, Strickland recently told reporters that an Israel Adesanya fan approached him around the Bondi Junction area in Sydney, Australia.
While this didn’t alarm Strickland at first, he claimed the fight told him that Adesanya was going to “f*ck you up.” Strickland then revealed he punched the fan in the stomach.
Dana White Responds To Sean Strickland Incident
UFC President Dana White chimed in on the situation during a post-fight press conference for the latest edition of the Contender Series. The UFC boss said Strickland made things out to be more serious than the encounter actually was. With that said, the UFC is keeping a closer eye on Strickland now.
“He’s a beauty,” White said. “He played it up more than whatever, it was jokingly and the fan and him are cool. Going into this, I knew what this week was gonna be like. Yes, we’re prepared for it and yes, we have people around him now. So, he won’t be punching people in the stomach anymore for fun or not for fun.”
Sean Strickland addressed the blow back for his comments during a media scrum and also confirmed that he embellished the story a bit.
“Let me clear this up for you guys, it was more in jest,” Strickland said. “It was fun. He had a giggle about it, I had a giggle about it, but you know me, you gotta do the right things.”
In a separate fan interaction with a different person, Sean Strickland sparred with an Adesanya fan during the open workouts before the UFC put a stop to the session. This time, the interaction was captured on the film and things were quite cordial between Strickland and the fan, who was glad to participate.