Dana White reveals the secret behind Sean Strickland becoming a social media sensation 

This past weekend saw Sean Strickland shock the world by defeating Israel Adesanya to claim the UFC middleweight title.

‘Tarzan’ defeating ‘The Last Stylebender’ ranks up there with the biggest upsets in the UFC in recent memory. Judging by the fan reaction, it appears that Strickland is becoming a social media star of sorts.

In some ways, this has been a long time coming. Sean Strickland has long been one of the most outspoken members of the UFC’s roster, with his interviews with influencer Nina-Marie Daniele in particular receiving plenty of attention.

The subject of Strickland’s burgeoning stardom was touched upon by UFC CEO Dana White last night.

White was speaking to the press following the latest edition of Dana White’s Contender Series, as well as the announcement of the UFC/WWE merger yesterday.

He had the following to say about his new middleweight champ, when it was revealed his post-fight interview had drawn 2.6 million views:

“Let me tell you this. So on Instagram, I have 8.3 million followers. Me wrapping the belt on him did 16 million views. 'DC' [Daniel Cormier] was telling me on the flight back he did interviews with him on his YouTube channel and it was the biggest he’d ever done... If you saw, there was a lot of hype around Strickland early. He lost a couple, hype kind of died down, he came back and he won the world title, and people are fascinated again...I think people love an underdog. He was such a big underdog in that fight, he came out and won...good for him. I love that sh*t, I love the support he’s getting, it’s great.”

Watch Dana White discuss Sean Strickland below.

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Sean Strickland vs. Israel Adesanya – will there be a rematch?

Sean Strickland’s win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 this past weekend was definitely one of the biggest upsets in recent memory.

The big question now is whether ‘The Last Stylebender’ will receive an immediate rematch, something touched upon by Dana White in the aftermath of this weekend’s result.

Strickland himself has now spoken on this, albeit via a chat with Daniel Cormier. According to ‘DC’, ‘Tarzan’ admitted to him that he believes a rematch with Adesanya would be a tougher fight than their first meeting.

Watch Daniel Cormier discuss this below.