Luke Rockhold recalls sparring session with “loud mouth idiot” Sean Strickland
Luke Rockhold has recalled the time he had a sparring session with Sean Strickland.
Strickland has developed quite the reputation for being raw and unfiltered. He has come under fire, however, for how he handles sparring sessions. Strickland has even admitted that he doesn’t really have an off switch, and treats his spars like an actual UFC fight.
Rockhold believes Strickland takes liberties with his training partners. Eventually, he found himself sparring with the fellow former UFC middleweight champion.
Luke Rockhold Discusses Sparring Session With Sean Strickland
Appearing on the JAXXON Podcast, Luke Rockhold revealed what made him want to spar with Sean Strickland.
“He was such a loud mouth idiot I was like, ‘Who the f*ck is this guy?’ I was so hung over,” Rockhold said. “I was so annoyed I was like, ‘F*ck, I’m gonna get in and spar with this kid.’ I was like, ‘I can’t even take this.'”
Rockhold went on to detail one time Strickland took advantage of a hurt sparring partner.
“Instead of like what most people would do, try to work with him, especially when you’re on someone else’s turf, Sean went straight back to that head kick,” Rockhold said. “He tried to knock him out multiple times. there’s 30 seconds left in the round, the kid’s done. Show yourself as a f*cking man and step up and try to just finish the round rather than just go back to the well and knock him out.”
Rockhold admitted his sparring round with Strickland was a close one.
“He’s a little tricky guy,” Rockhold said. “I went to the bathroom, I put paper towel, I wrapped it around my teeth like an old school wet mouthpiece, and I was swallowing the thing, sparring him hungover. It was a close round, I’d love to get him back out here again.”
Luke Rockhold recalls the first time he saw Sean Strickland spar at RVCA gym pic.twitter.com/STMAtz0ink
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) January 28, 2024
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Luke Rockhold Sean Strickland UFC
