Sean Strickland blames 'awkward' UFC 302 battle on Paulo Costa: 'What the f*ck are we doing right here?'

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

The previous UFC middleweight champion was important of the best way issues performed out in his co-main occasion bout at UFC 302 on Saturday. Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) was comfortable to get his hand raised and bounce again from his championship loss earlier this 12 months, however was upset to not give followers a warfare. 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 informed reporters on the UFC 302 post-fight press convention. “There was a second the place I finished 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 about the lackluster battle. His guess is that Costa, who has a historical past of placing on Battle of the Night time 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 perhaps simply wished to be associates. I don’t know.

“… You possibly can by no means inform how good someone is till they battle someone 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 assume I wish to battle this man immediately.’ So I believe loads of it simply is you by no means know the way good someone is till they battle someone good, and that’s what you noticed there.”

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