The two-time middleweight champion says he is willing to surrender his belt, move to 205 pounds and burn through the remaining fights on his UFC contract before pursuing Jake Paul, an extraordinary possibility emerging as negotiations for a Nassourdine Imavov rematch remain stalled and the chaos around Strickland continues to grow.
Sean Strickland fought his way back to the UFC middleweight championship only five months ago. Now, he is openly contemplating giving it away.
In the latest and most significant escalation of a growing dispute with the UFC over compensation, Strickland says he is considering vacating the 185-pound championship, moving to light heavyweight and fighting through the remainder of his contract as quickly as possible before pursuing opportunities outside the promotion. For a fighter who reclaimed the title from Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 in May, the possibility represents an extraordinary reversal. Strickland spent years fighting his way back toward the belt, finally regained it, and is now publicly questioning whether keeping it is worth the financial restrictions that accompany remaining champion.
“I gotta be honest unless things change with the UFC, I’m kinda over it,” Strickland wrote Wednesday. He pointed toward the massive purses earned elsewhere in combat sports and specifically referenced Conor McGregor before outlining a possible escape route: move to 205 pounds, complete the remaining fights on his contract and eventually fight Jake Paul. In a separate post, Strickland made the stakes even clearer, saying the idea of giving up the middleweight championship and “speed running” his UFC deal had become increasingly appealing.
That distinction matters. Strickland is not merely threatening to demand more money for his next title defense. He is publicly entertaining the possibility of surrendering one of the UFC’s most prestigious championships voluntarily because he believes the financial upside available outside the promotion may outweigh the value of remaining champion inside it.
The situation has developed rapidly. Strickland had been expected to defend his championship against Nassourdine Imavov, with discussions centering on a possible matchup at UFC 335 in December. Strickland previously indicated that negotiations were close and that compensation was the remaining issue. Instead, UFC 335 moved forward without him, with Charles Oliveira against Diego Lopes announced for the BMF championship and Alex Pereira scheduled to face Sergei Pavlovich in a five-round heavyweight bout.
Strickland has made clear that his absence was not because he was unwilling to compete. His public comments indicate that the disagreement centered on money, and the failure to finalize the Imavov fight appears to have pushed a contract negotiation into something far larger. Instead of simply asking when the champion will defend his title, the middleweight division is suddenly facing the possibility that there may be no champion to defend it.
Strickland reinforced that possibility when a fan raised concerns about fighter pay and he responded that he would not particularly care about relinquishing the belt and moving to light heavyweight, noting that 205 pounds would also provide an easier weight cut. For someone who has repeatedly described the demands of reaching the 185-pound limit, the move would provide both physical relief and a faster route through the remaining obligations on his UFC agreement.
The timing creates an unusual dilemma for the promotion. Strickland is not an inactive champion waiting indefinitely for the right matchup, nor is he sidelined with a long-term injury. He has a leading challenger available in Imavov, a rivalry with Chimaev that remains very much alive and the kind of unpredictable personality that guarantees attention almost every time he speaks. The obstacle appears to be whether the UFC and its champion can agree on what defending the belt should be worth.
Imavov has responded by making the dispute increasingly personal. The contender has publicly pressed Strickland to accept the fight and even offered to contribute his own money toward making the matchup happen. The tension spilled into the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas when the two encountered each other and Imavov confronted Strickland about why he had not signed the contract. According to footage of the exchange, Imavov questioned whether money was the issue and told Strickland he was willing to provide it himself.
That is an extraordinary dynamic for a championship division. The leading challenger is effectively telling the champion that if compensation is preventing the title fight, he is willing to help remove the obstacle. Strickland, meanwhile, appears increasingly uninterested in discussing his next defense until the larger financial disagreement with the UFC is addressed.
Chimaev has inserted himself into the chaos, as well. Strickland handed him the first defeat of his professional career when he won their UFC 328 title fight by split decision, and Chimaev has continued pursuing another opportunity against him. This week, Chimaev went considerably further by publicly offering Strickland $1 million to fight him anywhere, saying he did not care whether the confrontation happened inside or outside the cage.
The rivalry gives the UFC another obvious championship option, but it also illustrates how crowded the situation has become. Imavov believes he should be next. Chimaev wants another fight regardless of whether a belt is attached. Strickland is talking about abandoning the division entirely. Instead of the middleweight championship providing clarity at the top of the weight class, it has become the centerpiece of a dispute that now involves money, contracts, rival challengers and the possibility of the champion walking away from his own title.
Then there is Jake Paul, whose name transforms Strickland’s frustration from an internal UFC dispute into a potentially much larger combat sports story.
Strickland has flirted with fighting Paul before, but his latest comments are different because he is now connecting that possibility directly to a plan for leaving the UFC. His proposed route is straightforward: relinquish the championship, stop enduring the middleweight weight cut, move to 205 pounds, complete the remaining fights on his contract and then pursue the kind of boxing payday he believes is unavailable to him under his current UFC arrangement.
Paul did not ignore the invitation. He appeared to respond publicly by directing Strickland toward Most Valuable Promotions to discuss making the fight happen. That does not mean a boxing match is imminent, because Strickland remains under UFC contract and is still the promotion’s middleweight champion, but it means the other side of the hypothetical is already showing interest.
The financial comparison appears to sit at the center of Strickland’s frustration. He has repeatedly pointed toward enormous payouts earned by McGregor and prominent boxers while arguing that an active UFC champion should receive more. Strickland also responded to a supporter discussing his résumé by noting that Israel Adesanya and Chimaev, the two men he defeated in championship victories, had made significantly more money than he did.
Whether Strickland and the UFC ultimately bridge that difference remains unresolved, and reports about the precise amounts involved should be treated carefully because the promotion does not publicly disclose complete compensation figures for every fighter. What is undeniable is Strickland’s own position: he believes the compensation being discussed does not adequately reflect his status, his accomplishments or the value of defending the championship.
That frustration arrives during an especially turbulent period for the champion. Only weeks ago, Strickland survived a frightening off-road vehicle crash in Las Vegas while not wearing a helmet. He said the vehicle was traveling around 60 mph and rolled approximately six times, leaving him with abrasions to his head and shoulder and what he described afterward as a minor concussion. His friend, who was driving, briefly lost consciousness and was hospitalized.
Strickland later acknowledged that riding without a helmet had been reckless, but the incident became another chapter in a career and public life that rarely remain quiet for long. He previously survived a serious motorcycle accident in 2018 that contributed to a two-year absence from competition. This time, he escaped without injuries that appear to threaten his career, and within weeks the conversation surrounding him had shifted from physical recovery back toward fighting, money and controversy.
The volatility surrounding Strickland can sometimes obscure the competitive significance of his current position. He is not merely a popular veteran making noise about a contract. He is the reigning UFC middleweight champion, and he reclaimed that championship by handing Chimaev his first professional loss. His decision about what comes next therefore affects an entire division.
If Strickland reaches an agreement with the UFC, the most obvious path remains a title defense against Imavov, whose claim to the next opportunity has strengthened while negotiations have stalled. A Chimaev rematch remains commercially compelling because of their history and the closeness of their first fight. Either matchup would give the middleweight division an immediate direction.
If Strickland follows through on his alternative plan, the consequences become considerably larger. Vacating would immediately remove the champion from the division, force the UFC to determine how to crown his successor and allow Strickland to begin working through his contract without the obligations that accompany defending a championship. Moving to light heavyweight would also create an entirely new group of possible opponents while bringing him closer to the eventual boxing move he has repeatedly mentioned.
There is still a significant difference between discussing that possibility on social media and actually surrendering a UFC championship. Fighters use public statements as leverage during negotiations, and Strickland has built much of his reputation around saying things other athletes might keep private. Until the belt is formally vacated or a new bout agreement is signed, both outcomes remain possible.
What makes this situation different is how specifically Strickland has described the exit strategy. He is not simply saying he deserves more money. He has identified the championship he is willing to surrender, the division he would move into, the contract he wants to finish and the opponent he would like waiting on the other side.
For most fighters, winning a UFC championship represents the destination. Strickland is now treating his second middleweight title reign as something he may be willing to leave behind if remaining champion prevents him from reaching what he believes he is worth. Imavov is demanding his opportunity, Chimaev is offering $1 million for another fight, Jake Paul has opened the door to discussions, and the UFC suddenly has a champion publicly considering whether the fastest path forward begins by surrendering its belt.
Sean Strickland spent years fighting to become champion again. Five months after accomplishing it, the most important fight surrounding his career may no longer be over who gets the next shot at his title. It may be over whether Strickland decides the UFC middleweight championship is worth keeping at all.
Andrew Carswell is a combat sports columnist and college writing professor, based in Las Vegas, NV, whose work examines the intersection of fighting, media, business, and culture. His commentary and analysis have been featured in various magazines, newspapers, and media outlets, including Yahoo! News, and USA TODAY. Blending journalistic insight and experience with a fan’s perspective, Carswell writes about the fight game as both a cultural phenomenon and a global business.
Sean Strickland is a dick, but as a UFC fan I feel like he’s our dick… xD