Daniel Cormier Does Not Want to See Sean Strickland Leave
Daniel Cormier says he does not want to see Sean Strickland walk away from the UFC, even as the middleweight champion holds up a title defense over money.
The former two-division champion made the case on Daniel Cormier TV while the 185-pound belt sits without a signed next fight. Strickland is 31-7 and a two-time champion, and the proposed rematch with Nassourdine Imavov has already slipped off the December calendar.
“Can always take it one or two ways, because we don’t want to see Sean Strickland go,” Cormier said. “No matter what you feel about Sean Strickland, the, the, the character, the personality, the person that says all the wild things, the one thing you have to respect is how great a fighter he is.”
Cormier tied that respect to the path, not the persona. “And how unexpected his run to becoming two-time UFC champion has been.
You remember where the kid started, you remember what he came from, and you’re, now you gotta view what he’s built, and you have to appreciate that if you love mixed martial arts.”
He repeated the point. “It’s just the truth.”
That run is not abstract. Strickland took the belt from Israel Adesanya at UFC 293, lost it to Dricus du Plessis, missed in the UFC 312 rematch, then won it back from Khamzat Chimaev by split decision at UFC 328 on May 9.
He had already stopped Anthony Hernandez in February. The Chimaev win made him champion again before a defense was ever booked.
Cormier still wants the Imavov fight, and he did not treat it as a safe one. “So rematch, right, rematch. But the rematch is still dangerous, cause you know what you felt in there that night.”
Their first meeting came on January 14, 2023, when Strickland won a five-round unanimous decision in a light heavyweight bout. Imavov has not fought since a decision over Caio Borralho in September 2025, a win he treated as a claim on the next title shot.
The money is the holdup Cormier was reacting to. In late September, Strickland wrote on X, “We’re discussing pay now. Once that detail is squared its locked in. The issue is no one cares about the fake Frenchman. We’re almost there.”
That deal was not done by the time UFC 335 was announced for December 12 in Las Vegas. The card instead features Charles Oliveira against Diego Lopes for the BMF title, with Alex Pereira against Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event.
Imavov answered in public on October 5.
“If it’s really about money, I’ll put $500K of my own money on the line if you beat me in January,” he wrote. “If you still don’t take it, then you’re just scared. I’ll handle you outside. UFC, THIS is your champ? Come on, STRIP HIM.”
Cormier heard that pressure and still landed on Strickland’s side of the purse. “You want your money. And Strickland seems like he’s ready to do just about anything to get that money.”
The champion has already shown what that can look like. This week he said Jake Paul had offered him a bag, that he is under contract, and that he would go to Zuffa Boxing and beat the cruiserweight champion if the UFC will not clear a boxing title run.
Cormier did not pretend the standoff is clean. “I don’t know how this plays out. I don’t know that this works in his favor, but I’m excited to see what happens.”
He closed on the matchup itself, referring to Imavov while saying he is more into the fight than he was before because of how the contender approached it and because of Strickland.
A January date is the window Imavov put on the table. Nothing has been announced, and the belt is still in Anaheim while the UFC decides whether to pay, wait, or listen to a call to strip it.
