Sean Strickland threatens to ‘nuke’ his UFC contract: ‘My heart’s not in MMA any more’

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NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MAY 09: Sean Strickland warms up prior to his fight during the UFC 328 event at Prudential Center on May 09, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Michelle Farsi/Zuffa LLC)

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland continues to crash out on X (formerly Twitter) over his promotion refusing to pay him well to fight.

Strickland was a leading candidate to headline UFC 335 on December 12th in Las Vegas, but money issues led to the UFC booking a BMF title fight between Charles Oliveira vs. Diego Lopes in the top slot instead.

“I gotta be honest unless things change with the UFC I’m kinda over it,” Strickland tweeted, noting that UFC paid Conor McGregor $30 million while Zuffa Boxing (via the Saudis) paid Conor Benn $15 million. He then suggested he’d drop the belt, fight out his UFC contract at 205 pounds, and chase a Jake Paul fight. Paul jumped right into that conversation and said he was interested.

“I haven’t decided if I want to nuke my contract but I gotta say man putting hands on [Jake Paul] sounds way better than the UFC right now,” Strickland wrote in a new series of tweets.

“Y’all I think I’m just frustrated because my body is crashing because MMA training is brutal,” he added. “My heart just isn’t in MMA anymore. Groin tear, AC joint separation. I just don’t think my heart is in MMA anymore. Boxing there is more money and its significantly easier.”

Strickland then shared a picture labeled ‘the last MMA camp’ that showed his injured knee being drained of fluid. There’s no doubt that MMA is a rough sport and the wear and tear from wrestling and grappling is insane. “Tarzan” has 18 years of MMA damage over 39 fights and has come into his last several bouts battling reoccurring shoulder and knee problems. Those problems won’t go away in boxing, but the training is less destructive.

Strickland wants to believe it’d be easy enough to drop the belt, fight out his contract, and then battle Jake Paul. The reality is he’s in an iron vice of a contract with the UFC and they’re not about to let anyone — especially a champion talking about fighting for the competition — walk out on them easy.

The UFC could fix this by giving Sean a pay bump, but they may be less than interested now that it’s a public tug-of-war. Meanwhile, Strickland is crazy enough to fight the UFC to his financial detriment rather than get paid less than he thinks he’s worth. For now, the only war we’ll see him in is versus his own promotion.