Sean Strickland blames ‘awkward’ UFC 302 battle on Paulo Costa

NEWARK, N.J. – Sean Strickland is the primary to confess his choice win over Paulo Costa wasn’t a really entertaining battle.

The previous UFC middleweight champion was vital of the way in which issues performed out in his co-main occasion bout at UFC 302 on Saturday. Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) was completely happy to get his hand raised and bounce again from his championship loss earlier this 12 months, however was dissatisfied to not give followers a battle. He believes it primarily got here all the way down to Costa (14-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC).

“It was awkward, man. It was like a bizarre battle,” Strickland advised reporters on the UFC 302 post-fight press convention. “There was a second the place I ended being in my battle stance and I simply began strolling ahead like, ‘What the f*ck are we doing right here?’”

Strickland can’t pinpoint precisely what occurred with Costa that brought on the lackluster battle. His guess is that Costa, who has a historical past of placing on Struggle of the Evening performances, was simply not up for preventing that evening.

“He did land calf kicks, however for each one calf kick he landed, I landed like 5 teeps,” Strickland mentioned. “His abdomen confirmed extra harm than my calf did. It was only a bizarre f*cking battle, man. I don’t know what was happening with Costa. I believe Costa possibly simply wished to be mates. I don’t know.

“… You’ll be able to by no means inform how good any individual is till they battle any individual good. I believe there was that second the place each time Costa was like, ‘I’m going to battle this man,’ he will get caught in that section like, ‘I don’t suppose I wish to battle this man at present.’ So I believe quite a lot of it simply is you by no means know the way good any individual is till they battle any individual good, and that’s what you noticed there.”

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 302.