The noted UFC middleweight champ, Sean Strickland, has spoken about his troubled upbringing on multiple public podiums to date. ‘Tarzan’ mostly chooses to talk about his abusive father whenever he talks about his family. This has a large chunk of fans desiring to know more about the current UFC middleweight champ.
Most UFC fans may already know that Strickland carries a brash persona. ‘Tarzan’ has revealed his nonchalant attitude in many of his interviews. He is a Caucasian, who was born on 27 February 1991. The current UFC middleweight champ will turn 33 in a month. He was born in Anaheim, California, and had a rough upbringing. His family also consists of an elder brother apart from his father and mother, although none of their names are known.
Strickland was never really close to his father. He has described him as a heartless and abusive person. In one instance, he urged his father to commit suicide instead of trying to prevent him. The 32-year-old called him “an unemployed drug addict” as well. ‘Tarzan’ talked about this incident in an episode of the former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub’s ‘Food Truck Diaries‘. He said:
“There’s people like my dad, who you can give a million dollars, a billion dollars and they’ll still wake up miserable, vindictive, shady. It doesn’t matter what circumstance they’re in, they’re still miserable as f**k. That’s why I gave my dad the gun and it was more like putting a dog down.”
But the California native has always been very close to his mother. Recently, he appeared on the noted Theo Von‘s ‘This Past Weekend’ podcast, where he broke down in tears while detailing his relationship with his mother.
Sean Strickland once broke a guitar on his father’s head to protect his mother
Strickland appeared on Ariel Helwani’s noted podcast, ‘The MMA Hour’, where he revealed that he was always worried about his dad killing his mother someday. This is why he once crawled into their bedroom at night. Strickland was hiding underneath the bead when he heard his father saying, “Tonight’s the night you’re gonna f***ing die”. The eight or nine-year-old Strickland banged and broke a guitar on his father’s head right after this.
This incident proves that he always loved his mother dearly. However, he has also said that the brashness in his attitude was because of the Neo-Nazi views installed in him by his grandfather. Strickland’s interviews have revealed that his childhood was full of unruly incidents that took place almost every day. But they also may have helped shape the fighter in Strickland that we know today.
