Sean Strickland is beaten up, but not beaten down.

While his rematch with Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312 didn’t go his way, Strickland appears to be in good spirits after dropping a one-sided decision to the middleweight champion in Saturday’s main event in Sydney. Strickland released a statement on Instagram on Sunday morning reacting to the loss.

“What’s up, guys? We’ve been here once or twice,” Strickland said. “I’m so grateful for you guys’ support. You guys are so awesome, win or lose, you guys always ride and I appreciate you Dricus, f*cking hats off, hell of a fight, broke my nose in six places. The silver lining is my nose is so broken it’s really easy to reset, so that was a new experience.

“I’ll be quick, I get so many messages from fans, friends, family, like, ‘Hold your head up, it’s OK.’ I’m good. Losing sucks, but we all lose in life, and I talk to so many people whether they lose their job, their girlfriend breaks up with them, and they just find themselves in this hole, but me, I love the misery. I love the suffering, because when you’re miserable, when you’re in pain, when you’re suffering, the moment that’s gone—and it will end, it will be a new day, a better day—life’s good. So I’m grateful and being grateful kind of keeps my head up. For you guys going through it, look at me, I just broke my nose in front of millions of people. It f*cking sucks, I lost a fight, and I’ve still got to wake up tomorrow and hold my head up and be, like, ‘Hey man, it’s a new day. Got to sack up and be a man.

“So for you guys going through it, look at me, and I hope that, f*cking, your day gets better.”

Strickland fought du Plessis for a second time after the two first met at UFC 297 in January 2024. On that night in Toronto, du Plessis won a narrow split decision to take the middleweight title from Strickland, a result that Strickland has protested since. Du Plessis went on to successfully defend the title against Israel Adesanya, while Strickland earned his rematch with a win over Paulo Costa.

However, du Plessis was triumphant again and in more convincing fashion this time around as Strickland failed to initiate much meaningful offense of the course of the 25-minute main event en route to a unanimous decision defeat.

Watch Strickland’s video statement and see the accompanying caption below.

Nothing I’d [rather] do in the world! Thank you for allowing me to do what I love!!! Forever grateful