The recently announced Netflix bout featuring former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and fellow MMA pioneer Gina Carano hasn’t garnered universal excitement. Notably, ex-UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland expressed profound disinterest, extending his apathy to female sports as a whole.
During the UFC Houston Media Day, Strickland expressed his disdain, remarking, “Oh, come on. Ronda and Gina. Who decided on that? Will they be scantily clad? I suppose they might be, which could make it marginally more appealing.”
Strickland grudgingly admitted Rousey’s fighting prowess, stating, “Let’s be honest, Ronda Rousey could fight. She’s an Olympian, an unusual one at that. Even with her personal setbacks, she was a capable fighter.” His remarks about Carano were far less flattering: “Gina, on the other hand, consistently underperformed. I found Gina appealing; she was quite conservative and attractive. I was just a kid when she competed during the Strikeforce days – I might have even harbored youthful crushes. But Gina, truthfully, wasn’t a top-tier fighter. Her main draw was her looks, and women’s MMA back then was arguably even weaker than it is today, which doesn’t say much.”
Following his critique of the Rousey-Carano matchup, Strickland proceeded to broadly criticize women’s MMA, controversially claiming that even an average male spectator could defeat Amanda Nunes, widely regarded as the greatest female fighter in history.
He elaborated, “Frankly, not many genuinely care about women’s MMA as a whole. It’s akin to the WNBA. People generally aren’t invested in women’s sports. Who cares? You’re watching two women. Take the weakest, least athletic man in this room, and he would likely overpower Amanda Nunes.”
He further added a perceived caveat: “There’s nothing inherently wrong with women; they accomplish wonderful things. They cook, they clean, they prepare excellent food. Women are truly great.” However, he then pivoted to a more controversial viewpoint: “We must remember their true strengths: bearing children, nurturing families, preparing meals, and maintaining homes. The issue is that we’ve empowered them excessively, leading to the detriment of society.”
Strickland is slated to headline the upcoming Saturday UFC event at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, where he will face burgeoning talent Anthony Hernandez.
