UFC Champ Sean Strickland Addresses His Emotional Breakdown: Men Shouldn’t Cry With an Exception for Loss of Mother, Brother, or Dog

There are numerous fighters in the UFC who have a persona of being the most unfiltered man and hold questionable opinions. One such man is the current middleweight champion, Sean Strickland. Unlike many others, ‘Tarzan’ has unpopular takes on numerous things, but he also backs them with some valid points. However, he has now taken yet another unpopular stance, addressing his emotional moment on Theo Von’s podcast where, while about his rough childhood, he cried, and now in a recent interview with Nina Marie Daniele, he argues that men shouldn’t cry.

Strickland recently appeared on the podcast ‘This Past Weekend, where he opened up about his career and personal life. During the discussion, he revealed a lot about his childhood and the challenges he faced. While sharing his childhood traumas, he broke down in tears. Reflecting on that emotional moment in a recent conversation with Nina Marie, he referred to it as the weakest moment of his life and expressed the belief that men should only cry when someone close has gone. In his words,

“Men shouldn’t cry. You should hate yourself for it. Here’s a thing if your dog dies you are allowed to cry or maybe it’s your brother, mother dies you are allowed to cry. But you should not. And that was just my moment of weakness.”

Strickland, despite his belief that crying isn’t fitting for men, acknowledged shedding tears on the podcast as his weakest moment. Subsequently, Henry Cejudo and Tristan Tate responded by mocking him, advised him to be a man and face the situation without tears. Indeed, the reactions to his tears on the podcast appear to have made Strickland question the appropriateness of expressing vulnerability through crying.

Why did Sean Strickland cry talking to Theo Von?

Strickland opened up on Theo Von’s podcast about childhood trauma, revealing how his teachers, unaware of his struggles at home, labeled him a “bad kid” for falling asleep in class due to his father’s abusive behavior. This experience led him to lose faith in God. He stated,

“I remember I was like in third grade, or no, second grade and I kept falling asleep on my desk and my teacher took my desk away from me and made me like stand up. So me I’m like, ‘Fu*k you’, being this little kid, I just went ahead and fell asleep on the ground, and mind you the school system is like, ‘Sean, he’s just a bad kid.”

Audio footage of Sean Strickland getting emotional whilst addressing his childhood trauma 🥺

🔊 @TheoVon #UFC297 #UFC #MMA

pic.twitter.com/lnKvcE750K

— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) January 2, 2024

Not only this, but he also stated how his father’s abusive actions towards his mother led to him intervening with a guitar, calling the police, and causing him to miss school due to the bad home environment. And all these experiences made him the rough man who has many unpopular opinions.