Sean Strickland responded publicly after Khamzat Chimaev released video of their sparring session. Strickland dismissed the footage, saying it was merely light sparring during warm-up rounds and not representative of a real session. He also claimed they only sparred once together for three rounds and suggested Chimaev avoids sparring with top-level fighters, preferring to work with lower-level training partners. Strickland made personal jabs at Chimaev throughout his comments. The American contender emphasized that he seeks out the best training partners in the gym, implying Chimaev does not.
