Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland as soon as once more divided the MMA world together with his controversial social media posts, and high-profile middleweight contender Joe Pifer shortly adopted swimsuit.
Strickland and Pifer are two of the highest American fighters competing within the UFC middleweight division. Each have large battles arising. Strickland is scheduled to face rising star Anthony Hernandez in the primary occasion of UFC Houston on February twenty first. In the meantime, Pifer will face middleweight legend Israel Adesanya in the primary occasion of UFC Seattle on March twenty eighth.
Like Strickland and Pifer, Hernandez is a U.S. citizen. However he has Mexican blood in his veins. For Strickland, sharing an AI-generated picture of himself dressed as an ICE agent was sufficient to get his upcoming opponent arrested.
Sean Strickland by way of Instagram… 😭
(by way of @SStricklandMMA) pic.twitter.com/EsOBzn7C4Y
— Championship Spherical (@ChampRDS) January 15, 2026
On Instagram, his followers appeared to seek out his posts humorous, however on X, the response was colder.
One fan wrote: “What an embarrassing pile of rubbish.”
Joe Pifer follows Sean Strickland with related submit about his UFC rival
In contrast to Strickland, Pifer, and Hernandez, Adesanya just isn’t an American citizen and has by no means lived in america. As an alternative, he was born in Nigeria and at present lives in New Zealand. Nonetheless, Pifer took the chance to observe Strickland’s lead, sharing a really related picture of him arresting his upcoming UFC Seattle opponent.
I hope Izzy KOs him. pic.twitter.com/ndLwJhARYF
— Dovy🔌 (@DovySimuMMA) January 16, 2026
Just like the submit Strickland shared, Pifer’s assembly acquired combined reactions. Some followers discovered it offensive, whereas others discovered it humorous.
“Simply kidding, he actually mentioned in an interview that he thinks (Adesanya) is the (middleweight) GOAT,” one Strickland fan wrote. “Please cease being candy.”
Irrespective of the place you stand, there’s clearly a variety of satisfaction at stake in these two large middleweight bouts arising. The stakes are additionally very excessive, because the winner of every match turns into the division’s high contender.
