Din Thomas: Sean Strickland 'could possibly be' best UFC middleweight: 'It's depressing'
Since upsetting Israel Adesanya to claim the UFC middleweight title at UFC 293, Strickland has lost two of his past three – both in title fights against Dricus Du Plessis. His first fight against Du Plessis at UFC 297 was a close split decision loss, but the rematch at UFC 312 went much more in favor of the champion.
Thomas lauded Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) for his work ethic, but doesn't see it translating to his fights.
"The stories you hear about Sean Strickland from every high-level guy that I know that's ever worked with him said that he's the best guy in the room," Thomas said on Daniel Cormier's YouTube channel. "I believe that he could possibly be the best 185-pound fighter in the world right now if he put his energy into actually fighting in the big fights. If he put the same amount of energy that he does on fighting YouTubers and having beef with other people, if he put that energy into fighting the top contenders in the big fights, he would be winning."
Daniel Cormier brought up Strickland punching a regional fighter who beat his teammate while he was cornering at Tuff-N-Uff 145 as an example to explain why he thinks Strickland's mind isn't in the right place.
"That's my point," Thomas said. "If he would take that energy, if he had that energy against DDP, he'd still have the belt. It's depressing. It's the fact that he's so in the weeds right now, he can't see the big picture, because when his career is over, he's going to look back and go, 'Damn.' He can't see it right now. He's a knucklehead, and I'm sure Eric Nicksick tells him all the time, 'Hey man, you've got to focus on your career, focus on doing the right things, because you're letting these dudes beat you, and you're better than them.' It's despicable."
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