Wrestle World - MMA News Wrap-Up: Sean Strickland vs. the world, Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira friendship, more

Sean Strickland was the talk of the town this week, though much of it was unkind to the UFC 312 title challenger.

The always controversial Strickland put on a listless performance against middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis in their highly anticipated rematch, which not only cost him a chance to become a two-time UFC champion, but led to widespread criticism from fighters and fans.

From cageside analyst Din Thomas to Strickland’s own coach Eric Nicksick, few had any sympathy for the fighter known for talking a big game and then looking like a completely different, far less aggressive competitor on fight night. It’s unclear what lies ahead for Strickland after his main event flop, but he could be walking a lonely road for the foreseeable future.

In this week’s MMA News Wrap-Up, we take a look at some of the best comments from you, the readers, and the other buzz-worthy stories of the week.

Din Thomas rips Sean Strickland after lackluster outing at UFC 312: ‘He’s not who he says he is’

Few would ever accuse Strickland of fighting scared, but fans have a lot of questions and theories about what must be going through his mind—if anything—these days.

Ray Thompson

If you enjoy Strickland's personality, you kind of deserve to have your money stolen by his boring fight style.

LEAmaryllis

The truth is, I think Strickland is scared.

I don't mean that in the sense of "scared of getting into a fight," because obviously he's not. Dude even got his nose broken, and after like 30sec of looking about to be finished, he just went back to work.

But I think Strickland is seeing a lot more than he seems like he is. Basically, this guy is a professional fighter, and his only real hobby is sparring. There's no way he's not seeing opportunities for strikes. I'm seeing them. There were half dozen instances where he could have popped a quick 1-2 into DDP's face, and he didn't. Easier said than done when you're in the fight vs. comfortably watching at your computer, but we're talking basic boxing, and DDP was so out of position there was no possible way he could counter competently. There's no way he isn't seeing these shots.

Why isn't he taking them? Is he actually just comfortable losing a boring decision? Or is there some psychological block here? With a lot of fighters, it's easy to say "He's scared of the power coming back," and that CAN be valid, but Sean fought in DDP's face the whole time, and someone scared of his power wouldn't keep lumbering after him even after getting his nose broken, so it's NOT that. Strickland is also still really fast for his division, and very defensively competent. It's not like his reflexes have fallen off.