Why did Sean Strickland reject Paulo Costa bout at UFC 302?

Sean Strickland was unable to secure a title defense as he lost to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297, albeit via a controversial split decision. Even though Dana White, the UFC CEO, felt Strickland should have won the fight, the promotion is against the idea of an immediate rematch.

With the UFC seemingly booking a title fight and also a number one contender fight, Strickland has fallen far down the pecking order even though he is the number one middleweight. Now, Paulo Costa, a former title challenger has made serious allegations against Strickland.

Why did Sean Strickland refuse Paulo Costa bout?

Paulo Costa fought at UFC 299, the recent PPV, where he lost to Robert Whittaker via unanimous decision. Costa recently revealed on the Coach and the Casual podcast that he was offered a fight with Strickland in June but the American turned it down.

The promotion had earlier offered him Jared Cannonier for June but came again and offered Strickland. “Strickland refused to fight me, unfortunately. That’s what the UFC told me,” said Costa. Strickland responded via Instagram stories with the caption, “I never say no, I say ‘how much’ lol”.

With Strickland’s Instagram post, it became evident that the reason for rejecting the fight was due to remuneration-related problems. It needs to be noted that Strickland has always been critical of Costa for being unprofessional.

Even though Costa is coming off a loss, he almost knocked out Rober Whittaker at UFC 299. Whittaker hung on and won via grit, even drawing praise from Islam Makhachev, the pound-for-pound king.

Sean Strickland seeks rematch against Dricus du Plessis

Sean Strickland and his fans vehemently believe that he was robbed at UFC 297. Dricus du Plessis recently teased headlining UFC 305 in Perth against Israel Adesanya. Therefore, Strickland pleaded with the UFC to do the right thing and offer him a rematch against the South African.

However, Strickland’s pleading was only heard by deaf ears as the UFC had already booked a number one contender fight between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev at UFC Saudi Arabia.

With all doors closed, Strickland will now have two options for his next fight, and both are rematches – a bout with Jared Cannonier, against whom lost via split decision, or a fight with Brendan Allen whom he had previously knocked out.

Cannonier has been out ever since he weighed in as a backup at UFC 293 due to injury and has now recovered. Brendan Allen recently defeated Chris Curtis at UFC Vegas 90 and called out Sean Strickland.