Luke Rockhold backed to beat Sean Strickland by former champion after UFC 312: 'He's a robot'
02/17/2025 03:15 PM
Former UFC champion TJ Dillashaw went the extra mile in his harsh criticism of Sean Strickland’s performance at UFC 312.
Sean Strickland continues to be flooded with criticism for his head-scratching showing in his UFC 312 rematch with Dricus du Plessis. After promising a ‘fight to the death’, Strickland struggled with consistent output at UFC 312, losing by unanimous decision in a similar showing to their first clash.
Strickland, as of this writing, is now firmly out of the middleweight title mix as du Plessis prepares for a likely showdown with Khamzat Chimaev for his next title defense. In the aftermath of UFC 312, Strickland has teased moving on from his longtime cornerman, after his head coach publicly criticized his lack of effort in the cage.
Before Luke Rockhold made his long-awaited UFC return at UFC 278 against Paulo Costa, the former champion and Strickland were scheduled to meet at UFC 268 before withdrawing due to injury. While the matchup wasn’t rebooked, Rockhold and Strickland have continued to beef outside of the cage in recent years.
On the off chance that Strickland and Rockhold battle in the UFC Octagon in the future, TJ Dillashaw believes it would be a cakewalk for Rockhold after watching Strickland’s latest performance.
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TJ Dillashaw sides with Luke Rockhold in potential Sean Strickland clash
During a recent episode of the JAXXON Podcast, Dillashaw explained why he believes Rockhold would dominate Strickland in a potential fight.
“The Sean we’re watching in this fight, Luke pieces him up,” Dillashaw said. “Sean, for whatever reason, was like gunshy. He’s a volume fighter and for whatever reason, he’s throwing one jab at a time. He’s throwing one push kick at a time. He is not putting combos together. He’s not feinting, he’s not moving his f—— head. He’s a robot. He was standing straight up tall and throwing a jab the whole fight.
“I think that Sean was hopefully gonna evolve coming into this fight and I thought he looked worse than the first one.” (h/t MMA Knockout)
After UFC 312, Rockhold accused Strickland of ‘basically quitting’ after suffering a broken nose mid-fight. As of this writing, Strickland hasn’t responded to either Dillashaw or Rockhold’s recent remarks.
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Luke Rockhold and Sean Strickland feud escalates after UFC 312
After falling to Costa at UFC 278, Rockhold opted not to re-sign with the UFC, eventually making an appearance in Bare Knuckle FC and Karate Combat. Rockhold won his Karate Combat debut over Joe Schilling last April by third-round TKO.
Before falling to du Plessis in the UFC 312 headliner, Strickland got back to the title by defeating Costa at UFC 302 last June. Fresh off the UFC 312 debacle, a timeline for Strickland’s next fight is uncertain, but he’s likely to return sometime this summer.
As their feud escalates, Strickland and Rockhold could potentially meet in the Octagon if Rockhold returns to the UFC roster. But for now, Dillashaw sides with Rockhold if the two former middleweight titleholders scrap.
