“If Forrest hadn’t jumped in, I would’ve took your life” - Sean Strickland opens up on viral sparring session gone wrong with influencer Sneako

Sean Strickland has offered up his side of things after the viral clip circulated of him sparring with Sneako.

Among a few topics in a recent vlog address posted to his YouTube channel, the former UFC middleweight champion spoke about the busy week that he just had. One that involved meeting former US president Donald Trump. Strickland indicated he felt Trump was a solid enough guy and seemed to indicate he wanted to speak at a future rally of his.

Then Strickland mentioned not knowing who Sneako was at all prior to the two donning the gloves to throw down. He said the content creator was a nice enough guy and was kind of surprised at the influencer's desire to spar with him.

This, per Strickland, stemmed from a since corrupted podcast episode with Pearl Davis that never saw the light of day. Amid this chat, Strickland stated Davis asked him if he would spar with Sneako, and he agreed to do it because he's on friendly terms with Pearl.

In outlining the respect divide he has between sparring a seasoned MMA great versus a hobbyist boxer in Sneako, Strickland said:

"Me and 'Cowboy' (Donald Cerrone) could spar and I'm not gonna try to murder 'Cowboy'. I'm not gonna try to f*** 'Cowboy' up because he's earned my respect. He's a legend, he's put in work. We've all seen his highlight knockouts. He's earned his right not to get hurt."

"When you spar these guys that want to spar, there is no respect. You haven't earned it. You haven't like proved yourself. You don't deserve not to get hurt. If Forrest hadn't jumped in, I would've took your life if I could've."

Check out the Strickland YouTube video in question below:

---

Sean Strickland and his busy week

Beyond the Trump and Sneako interactions, Sean Strickland also had some other moments that caught the internet's attention in recent days.

At a Power Slap event over Super Bowl weekend, an altercation with Machine Gun Kelly transpired.

Strickland felt something happened to Megan Fox to justify her dating the musician. The 32-year-old made fun of MGK, to which Strickland felt like the rapper and pop punk artist responded with noticeable disdain for him. The polarizing middleweight then said he was escorted out of the PS venue thereafter.

Also the United States native also had an exchange on X with Jake Paul that got many talking.

Strickland may fly out to Puerto Rico for a one-million-dollar sparring session with Paul or perhaps a showdown in the desert if the former has his way.