LAS VEGAS – Dana White has heard through the grapevine that his UFC middleweight champion isn't happy.
The UFC CEO gambles a lot, so he may just have a good poker face. But taken at face value Tuesday, he didn't seem too bothered by Sean Strickland's online airing of grievances.
"No, I haven't (spoken to him) personally," White told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a DWCS 96 post-fight news conference. "I've just heard through social media and stuff, but when isn't Sean Strickland upset about something or doesn't have something to say? Sean Strickland just signed a new contract in May."
"He just signed a new contract in May. He just signed a new deal. Four months ago, five months ago, he just signed a new deal. From what I hear, from the number he's putting out there, it's not true. The number that he claimed is not true. ... It is what it is. If we were in a situation where he'd been under the same contract for a year, two years... He just signed a contract in May. He got a whole new deal in May. It is what it is."
Strickland (31-7 MMA, 18-7 UFC) has not competed since a May win over Khamzat Chimaev that earned him UFC gold for the second time. Expected by many to fight Nassourdine Imavov next, Strickland was not a part of the UFC's end-of-year schedule that was recently revealed, leading to many questions about his absence.
In a series of tweets in recent days, Strickland has voiced unhappiness with the promotion and his compensation. He pondered vacating his title and walking away from MMA entirely in a series of tweets Wednesday and packaged up his distaste and disdain a bit more colorfully in a diatribe Thursday.
"But let me tell you something about the UFC," Strickland said. "I'm going to say the quiet part out loud that nobody says. You'll go, you watch these champions, right? These savages of the sport, they run the division, and they take an L, and then they come back, and they just fight like three or four times. They get f*cking flatlined. You're like, 'Dude, what happened to you?' And you realize the UFC happened. They just don't care anymore. The UFC, they don't pay you enough money to walk away like, 'Man, life is f*cking good. I've dedicated my life to this. I put the time in this.' The UFC builds a legacy. They keep it right here, but they build a legacy, and they don't pay you enough. So you have to come back and ruin your legacy. I don't want to do that, man."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White responds to Sean Strickland: 'He got a whole new deal in May'