Sean Strickland Urges UFC to Sign PFL’s Undefeated Star for the Final Stretch of His Career

Sean Strickland and out-of-pocket statements go hand in hand. Like werewolves in the lead-up to a full moon, the former middleweight champion begins getting more aggressively expressive in the lead-up to a fight. Normally, this would mean a plethora of bigoted remarks but this time, Strickland is actually making a case for a friend who he believes should be with the UFC.

Strickland is talking about Johnny Eblen, who is an undeniable force in the PFL, boasting a perfect professional record of 16 wins and 0 losses. Additionally, he holds the Bellator middleweight championship and has successfully defended it three times. However, with the recent PFL and Bellator merger, Eblen’s future in the promotion remains uncertain, fueling speculation that he could be eyeing a move to the UFC.

The former champion trains alongside Eblen and believes he will achieve great things in the UFC. Given that the PFL middleweight is already 33, Strickland sees this as the perfect time for him to make the transition. Presenting his argument in a conversation with Daniel Cormier, he adds,

“UFC sign that man, PFL, let him go. He’s a savage, he’s 33, he’s got probably 3 hard years left, and he’s a guy that I really want to see in the UFC, more than anything. I wanna see him get a shot.”

If the UFC does bring him on board, the middleweight division could gain another elite-level competitor, and fans might finally see how Eblen fares against the best fighters in the world. The 185 lbs division is one of the most stacked divisions in the organization, and throwing Eblen into the mix would only make things more chaotic and fun, something Strickland is not beyond enjoying.

In fact, he’s happy to light the fuse himself with sparks of chaos by comparing the UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis to ‘children with specific needs’.

Strickland makes fun of DDP’s style

It’s true that DDP is unorthodox every step of the way. As a matter of fact, his former opponents Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya even agree that he’s the ‘best sh*t fighter of all time‘. This mostly means that nobody has been able to figure out his style just yet.

Strickland, of course, was a little more colorful in his perception of things and told Cormier,

“I mean Dricus dude, he fights like a ret*rd off a short bus…it’s like if you were to go watch two little special kids fight, they would resemble Dricus, like he’s just f*cking head down, full send.”

 

Sean Strickland describing Dricus Du Plessis’ fight style:

“He fights like a ret*rd off a short bus…it’s like if you were to go watch two little special kids fight, they would resemble Dricus”

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— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) February 5, 2025

Despite the critique, Strickland did acknowledge that Du Plessis’ unorthodox style has been highly effective. However, he remains confident that things will be different when they step into the octagon. He stated that he plans to dominate Du Plessis for five rounds while avoiding any accidental headbutts, which he believes played a role in Du Plessis’ win against him at UFC 297.

With the tension building and fight night just days away, Strickland’s words only add more fuel to what promises to be an intense showdown for the middleweight title.