Article content

It was nearly enough to make a champion fighter cry.

Article content

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland admitted that he felt “a little emotional” after being given a custom rifle by his manager recently.

Article content

Strickland, who is headlining UFC 297 this Saturday in Toronto at Scotiabank Arena, was being filmed for UFC Embedded, a series that follows fighters in the lead-up to big events.

Article content

Article content

The American is seen entering a friend’s gun shop which he frequents, saying: “We’re going to my buddy’s gun shop, so when you see me shooting machine guns, this is where we do it.”

That’s when manager Lance Spaude surprises Strickland with the gift.

“Bro I’ve never been gifted a gun before. It’s nice, that is so dope. This is so f***ing dope, it’s epic.”

Spaude then shakes his hand and says: “I thought you’d like it.”

The golden semi-automatic rifle looks like something out of the popular video game series Call of Duty and even has the champion’s name engraved on it for a personal touch. It also had a butt grip that was in black.

Strickland scored a stunning upset over Israel Adesanya in September to capture the UFC’s middleweight crown. He will be taking on South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis in his first title defence on Saturday.

Article content

At UFC 296 in Las Vegas last month, Strickland and challenger du Plessis got a head start on their main-event showdown when they exchanged blows in the crowd.

Strickland has made his fair share of headlines outside of the octagon as well over the past year or so.

In November, the controversial fighter posted a video on Instagram in which he confronted a man who was hiding out in front of his house after allegedly “stomping out a girl.”

Article content

“Here’s what I know,” Strickland wrote on Instagram.

“The guy was drunk stomping out a girl, a security guard seen it, he jumped in his car and drove off. Security followed him, hit a curb, completely shredded his tire, drove on the rim for awhile then jumped out and tried to hide at my house. I initially thought he was stealing my car. He was arrested.”

He also weighed in on comments from fighter-turned-OnlyFans star Paige VanZant that she made more money online in a day than during her career in the octagon, with the champ saying that “women’s MMA is lame,” and that “men will pay more to see you naked than to watch you fight.”

Strickland also ripped into Canada for the country having “no guns, no freedom of speech,” after UFC president Dana White announced Strickland would be headlining the event in Toronto.

As you can see, there’s never a dull moment when Strickland is involved.

Fans should be hoping for more excitement on Saturday night – or maybe even at the weigh-in later this week.

Article content